The blogosphere is on fire this morning over the recent news that the Associated Press wants to now charge bloggers a per word usage fee.
G.E.N.I.U.S.
So, which mental giant over at the dinosaur facility came up with this stroke of brilliance?
The (cr)AP, who hasn’t quite joined the 21st Century, will be immensely disappointed to find out that the new “fee” platform won’t be appreciated by anyone in the blogosphere – a community growing by the hundreds each day. The same community that prides themselves on dishing out link love to other bloggers.
Michelle Malkin writes: The Internet firestorm over the Associated Press’s heavy-handed attempt to bully bloggers over fair use article excerpts has been absolutely schadenfreude-licious. Now, it’s time to turn the tables. If your blog or blog commenters have ever been quoted by the AP, listen up: It’s time to prepare a bill and demand payment…
Malkin continues by listing a few occasions in which the (cr)AP quoted her blog directly, without permission, and then using the (cr)AP structure now in place, Malkin formulated a bill for $132,125 in which she will present to the (cr)AP.
We’re sure they’ll pay right up – if they can even figure out the cost structure Malkin used, which was, um, their idea.
Tell us how brilliant you think this idea is by emailing us a [email protected]. And in the spirit of “fair use,” we’ll post the best comments.
UPDATE: Here’s a promoted comment that we found funny…
From bradkanus: “If I were the AP I would wait and see if this whole “blogging” thing catches on before I go and do anything hasty. Who knows, this whole internet thing may blowover next year and we’ll all be sitting around the record player in the den reading the newspaper again.”
Also, PhoenixSunsPhan, wrote a very good response as well. Check it out in the comment section.