This week, the Associated Press announced that it was developing a system to “protect news content from unauthorized use online,” i.e., set up some kind of DRM for its articles. To explain just how it plans to eliminate cutting and pasting, the Second Pillar of the Internet (you know what the first one is), it released this helpful clip-art laden graphic:
Got it? My takeaway is that authorized news “users” will be able to “mash up” AP stories in what looks like a barrel of radioactive waste. Unauthorized news users will be found via a “tracking beacon” and then subject to “enforcement.” That makes it sound like the AP is going to go all RIAA on news aggregators and clip-happy bloggers, but tech types say it’s hyping its proposed system’s capabilities.
Ironic Sans’ David Friedman has a far simpler idea. Noting a recent study that “discovered that people are more honest when eyes are watching them, even if the eyes are fake,” he suggests that the AP embed an emoticon-style face in each of its stories:
It’s the Smiley as copy protection. The AP could come up with their own set of ascii eyes, brand it, and include it in every dateline from now on. They could even pretend it has some other official function, like it symbolizes the AP keeping its eyes out for news. But people would see it and know what it means: “This is an AP article. Please don’t steal it unless you would do so even with your own mother watching.”
Brilliant. (Not that it would stop Shepard Fairey from swiping AP photos with eyes in them.) Now please don’t copy this post without permission. 😉
