They are collecting data.
AP hasn't made a statement of specific intent. They haven't filed a lawsuit. They haven't done anything except state that they want to explore new ways to collect money from people who are making money from collecting and indexing the work they own. They are currently tracking use to discover what these patterns are.
They want to make money! By finding a way to charge for us of their own work! O, the wickedness!
As if people not interested in being marketed by AP can't sell their own stuf... But then they too would be making money off their work.
Heh. I've got Futurama on: "I Dated a Robot": "I've done nothing wrong. The internet is about making money by providing free access to other people's ideas." How true, how true.