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AP Quotes Blogger In Discussing Bloggers Quoting AP; Hilarity Ensues

techwatcher — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 08:52:16 +0000

The ongoing ridiculous situation brewing between bloggers and the Associated Press has now taken a turn towards the enjoyably hilarious. We had already mentioned the fact that, despite the AP’s complaints that bloggers quoting less than 100 words were violating fair use, the AP had a long history of quoting more than 100 words from bloggers - and not even linking back to the original blog.

Now, in a bit of ultimate irony, the AP’s own article about this brouhaha quoted (without linking) twenty-two words from TechCrunch. That’s 18 words more than the supposed four word “limit” the AP has suggested. With an ironic chance that wide, TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington couldn’t resist, and asked his lawyer to send a DMCA takedown notice to the Associated Press, along with a bill for $12.50 (directly off the AP’s own pricing schedule). He admits that it’s ridiculous, but that’s what his actions are designed to present. By law, the AP should be required to takedown the content before filing a response — though, since it’s filing the response to itself, then perhaps it won’t need to takedown the content. Either way, this helps illustrate the insanity of the entire situation.

The open source alternative

techwatcher — Sun, 18 May 2008 11:13:27 +0000

It’s good to see the BBC covering open source software

Hilarious: The Powerbook Prank: He wanted a Powerbook. We gave him a P-P-P-P…

techwatcher — Mon, 12 May 2008 13:13:37 +0000

This is an absolutely hilarious read about a prank on an ebay scammer! Not sure how old the story is, but once I started reading it, I couldn’t stop. A must read when you have 10-15 mins to spare.

The PowerBook Prank

The Powerbook Prank
	Part 1: Building the P-P-P-Powerbook
	Part 2: Sending it off
	Part 3: Getting through customs
	Part 4: The scammer responds
	The original story (PDF format; 28 pages)