AP setting up tracking system for Web content; Associated Press, 7/23/09

Michael Liedtke via Associated Press; AP setting up tracking system for Web content:

"The Associated Press is moving ahead with plans for a system to detect unlicensed use of its content and potentially create new ways for the 163-year-old news cooperative and other media to make more money on the Internet.

As part of a strategy approved Thursday by the AP's board, the cooperative will start by bundling its text stories in an "informational wrapper" that will include a built-in beacon to monitor where stories go on the Internet.

The beacon is meant to be a policing device aimed at deterring Web sites from posting AP content without paying licensing fees. The AP and its member newspapers contend unlicensed use of their material is costing them tens of millions of dollars in potential ad revenue...

Although the AP's new system is set up to guard copyrights, it could also raise privacy concerns."

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