It’s hard to see what’s driving the thinking at the Associated Press in light of the storm of anger they have whipped up as they implement what looks to be a “pay-as-you-quote” system that you should comply with if you want to use any AP-distributed content on your website or blog. And I mean any content, even five words. That’ll cost you $12.50 according to AP’s licensing fees on iCopyright.com as the screenshot suggests, which shows rates for one particular…

At a time when news is fast becoming a commodity – you don’t care so much where the news comes from as it’s the news itself you’re interested in – the behaviour of the Associated Press news agency looks distinctly dinosaurish. In a nutshell, the AP is trying to stop a blogger posting even small snippets of content from AP news items, something that happens day in and day out across the web under fair use and fair dealing practices.…