Current Events — HabitableZone

Current Events » in reply to re: They are collecting data.

Oh, for pete's sake.
Mary Anne — (archived)

AP should pay</> bloggers now?

Listen: bloggers and others, including Google, add value to their own product by linking to the work produced by AP and others. They don't pay a cent for this added value and use it to gather more business for themselves. Some want advertisers, some want attention. They still use AP's work to get what they want.

Amazon pays people who link to the books and other products on their site because they are trying to sell the books etc., and the hits are all potential customers. Amazon gets direct financial benefit from such links.

When someone links to AP, do they get any direct profit out of it? No. Do they have costs involved in producing the product? Yes.

They are not looking for ways to sue, because lawsuits are a poor way for anyone except lawyers to make money. They want to establish a way to collect a little from their users. Their original users were all print media who paid them for their work, and then recouped their costs through advertising and direct sale to readers. Now, as you point out, things have changed. Subscriptions are fading away. They want to find a way to get something from their readers. This is a first step.

If you think they're doomed, what are you worried about?

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