AP to Place “DRM” on the News

In what I am betting is one of the AP’s final death throes, the organization has come up with a far-ranging plan that they claim will stop the rampant theft and plagiarism of their content and will finally force us freeloaders to make micropayments to read the news.

PaidContent parsed their FAQ:

—The registry will use a microformat platform AP developed; it was endorsed by the London-based Media Standards Trust earlier this month.

—The “microformat” puts content in content in a “wrapper” that includes a digital permissions framework “that lets publishers specify how their content is to be used online and which also supplies the critical information needed to track and monitor its usage.”

—The registry will provide metrics on content consumption, payment services and enforcement support.

—AP says the registry could support its previous idea of building search pages as “authoritative sources” by requiring links “to search optimized news pages that guide users to timely, authoritative coverage. AP continues to research the concept.”

Is it just me or does this sound an awful lot like the awful DRM that plagued the music business until only extremely recently.  While the music labels have all but completely abandoned DRM, realizing it did nothing to curb policy and a lot to piss off customers, it looks like the AP is going to give the same failed effort a spin.

It’s sad to see how little the various major content industries have been able to learn  from each others’ mounting failures.

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