AP setting up tracking system for Web content

[babylonsister]

I hope they go bankrupt.


AP setting up tracking system for Web content
By MICHAEL LIEDTKE Associated Press Writer


Jul 23rd, 2009 | The Associated Press is moving ahead with plans for a system to detect unlicensed use of its content and potentially create new ways for the 163-year-old news cooperative and other media to make more money on the Internet.

As part of a strategy approved Thursday by the AP's board, the cooperative will start by bundling its text stories in an "informational wrapper" that will include a built-in beacon to monitor where stories go on the Internet.

The beacon is meant to be a policing device aimed at deterring Web sites from posting AP content without paying licensing fees. The AP and its member newspapers contend unlicensed use of their material is costing them tens of millions of dollars in potential ad revenue.

"This is a pivotal step in the fight to ensure that quality journalism can be funded in the digital era," Tom Curley, AP's chief executive, said in an interview. "We have stood by too long and watched other people make money off the hard work of our journalists. We have decided to draw a line in concrete."

more...

http://www.salon.com/wires/ap/scitech/2009/07/23/D99KEKH02_us_ap_copyright_protection/index.html

[Ian David]

1. They'll recoup all their losses by suing Free Republic for posting entire articles. n/t

[BlooInBloo]

2. Whatever.

[Newsjock]

3. They're going to track what computer reads what stories

... Although the AP's new system is set up to guard copyrights, it could also raise privacy concerns.

Just the word "beacon" could raise alarms, partly because Facebook Inc. used the same term to describe a 2007 program that automatically monitored its users' activities at other Web sites. After an uproar, Facebook decided to leave it up to its users to decide whether to turn its beacon on.

The AP will be able to determine what's being read on individual computers, but AP executives stressed the monitoring system won't collect personal information. Cookies -- computer coding planted into Web browsers to determine their users' interests -- won't be part of the AP's tracking system, Seagrave said.

"We want to know where stories are going and what is being read, not who is reading it," Seagrave said.

Those assurances may not be enough to mollify people worried about the potential for profiles to be created about their interests based on what they are reading.

It could even be enough to discourage people from reading AP stories and instead lead them to other news sources, said John Palfrey, a law professor and co-director of Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet & Society.

[jwirr]

6. Isn't that kind of like the librarian telling the FBI what we read? An

invasion of our privacy?

[FormerDittoHead]

4. Beacons and tracking stuff. It's about Web Feeds.

If I copy an AP story and paste the WORDS somewhere, there aren't any 'beacons' there.

That's not what's going on here. Copy and paste away.

What's going on is people running websites and syndicating AP content on their website.

People can use news feeds, but that's not AP's concern

What's a news feed? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_feeds

If you use an RSS feed reader or browser plugin, you know what this is.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/424

A news or web feed can contain pictures as well as code. This is what they're going to do to track unauthorized use. It could be as simple as simply tracking the usage of the feed's pictures.

Individuals copying and pasting text shouldn't be worried.

I should add that it would be quite easy for a website to strip out anything that isn't plain text.

[Robb]

7. Because this sales model worked so well for the record industry.

:eyes:

Seriously, history has shown if you want the money for your content, whatever it is, you have to make it good, and make your sales stream as easy or easier to deal with than stealing it is. This is the only reason iTunes works, it's ever so slightly easier than pirating MP3s.

AP's problem is their content has begun sucking, they're offering new products no one wants (like the folksy ledes and "fact check") and they're losing money as newspapers tighten their belts or tank altogether.

If you spend more on loss prevention than you spend on innovation, you're circling the drain, IMO.

[rucky]

5. Careful where you post that story!

[Historic NY]

8. couldn't you just use a google link to the story?