The Associated Press has announced that it will crack down on news aggregators, bloggers and others who link to AP stories. As one of the three biggest newspapers in Sierra County, the Prospect is a likely target for one of AP’s lawsuits.

AP LINK claims that sources like Sierra County Prospect (LINK) who link to news items at AP affiliates are stealing copy, even though AP and the affiliates are linked.

"We can no longer stand by and watch others walk off with our work under misguided legal theories," Singleton said at the AP annual meeting, held April 6, in San Diego.

Prospect Managing Editor DeVita said, "we don’t take that much from AP, mostly we steal from the Mountain Messenger. From now on, we’ll probably avoid AP news, which is often bad news anyway. In future, we’ll get our links from Agence France-Presse.

The Prospect attempted to contact AP in an effort to strike a deal; the Prospect will allow AP to use its copy in exchange for permission for AP copy. So far there has been no response.  The only copy we have permission to print is this, which is not copyrighted:
"Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed."

In other news, La terre continuait de trembler mercredi dans les Abruzzes plongeant dans l'angoisse les survivants du terrible séisme qui a fait au moins 250 morts alors que les sauveteurs poursuivaient leur course contre la montre pour retrouver d'éventuels survivants.