One of the things I failed to mention in my previous post was that the AP wouldn't be sending take downs if it wouldn't be hurting financially. This is all about money and all about how they go about making that money and it's absolutely related to SEO (search engine optimization) and how online media that quote them may end up ranking higher than them in searches.

Two years ago AP inked a deal with Google that basically turned Google into a content provider that instantly turned the search engine and news aggregator into a direct competitor with the very newspapers and journalism sources that Associated Press charged for the privilege of syndicating their news online. The excuse was that Google wanted to go into the content business and was partnering up with AP for the creation of new services.

It's obvious though that after a year of this match-made-in-newspaper-hell, the AP bullied Google into licensing their content for the right to display their headlines on Google News. In other words, Google royally sold out and screwed the blog and social media spheres in the process.

Imagine AP asking each blogger to ink a licensing deal. Image Facebook or Rupert Murdoch's MySpace inking a deal with AP. The blow to fair use and freedom of speech would be devastating and it would take someone like Rogers to sue AP, spend hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollar to have the case reviews by the Supreme Court.

The whole system royally sucks.

Jeff Jarvis makes a point by asking bloggers to boycott AP. They anyway steal content from independent journalists and bloggers and never link back or give attribution :

This complaint comes from an organization that leaches off original reporting and kills links and credit to the source of that journalism. Yes, it has a right to reproduce reporting from member news organizations. But as I point out here, the AP is hurting original reporting by not crediting and linking to the journalism at its source. We should be operating under an ethic of the link to original reporting; this is an ethic that the AP systematically violates.

And as Matthew Ingraham says, the fact people are commenting the news gives The Drudge Retort's claims of fair use even more weight:

As Salon founder Scott Rosenberg points out on his blog, the AP is almost certainly wrong. I would be willing to bet that a court would find in favour of Rogers Cadenhead on virtually every one of the five factors that are taken into account when the ‘fair use’ principle is applied. This case is yet another example of agencies like the AP — and the World Newspaper Association — trying to regain the control they used to have over access to the news, in an attempt to put the Internet genie back in the bottle. It’s not only dumb, but ultimately futile. Cyndy Aleo-Carreira at Profy thinks otherwise, but I believe that she is wrong.

This takes me to Robert Cox and the Media Bloggers Association. Every single blogger ought to drop by the MBA site and become a member NOW.

Robert Cox is not only one of the nicest people I know but happens to be a lawyer that has emerged as one of the foremost experts of fair use in the country. He's written amicus briefs and/or represented bloggers in cases against Apple among others.

I actually ended up getting Bob's assistance when I needed legal counsel after one of my bloggers got contacted by the FBI. Bob has a whole group of lawyers that will do pro-bono work for members of the MBA. Not having to pay an attorney for consultation was quite nice (for defending a case, even if they work pro-bono you still end up having to pay court fees and tons of other stuff).

I have to say that, after having been involved in what is now a "text book case" vs. Mattel, pre-DMCA (see : The Distorted Barbie), at a time before even the word "blog" existed, there's nobody better to have on your side than a Robert Cox.

He'd probably blush if he heard me saying this but if you can't have Lawrence Lessig giving you legal counsel, then you definitely want to have Robert Cox. The beauty of the MBA is that if he doesn't have the answers, the MBA has a network of lawyers and legal experts that are at the ready to find them. And Bob is one of the true believers of the constitution, of our right to free speech and it's exercise through "fair use" online and off.

So if you're a blogger, make sure you show some love to Bob Cox.

Keeping the Electronic Frontier Foundation's FAQ page on Fair Use handy would be helpful too.