Boycott Associated Press!

AP is threatening bloggers with lawsuits just for quoting them and even for linking to them. Seriously. Even links in comments.

In one of the daftest 'monetisation' strategies I've ever heard of, they've targeted The Drudge Retort and made clear they will go after others.

The quotes range from 33 to 79 words long.

Says Jeff Jarvis:

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.

In its complaint against [The Drudge Retort], the AP is flouting fair use and fair comment. It is ignoring the essential structure of the link architecture of the web. It is declaring war on blogs and commenters.

• Here's a petition against AP's tactics
  
  
• Associated Press backs down