When the Associated Press meets on Thursday with a group of bloggers, collectively known as the Media Bloggers Association but not exactly elected to speak on behalf of a loosely aligned group of publishers, to discuss the little matter of excerpting their articles, perhaps they'll have a very interest topic to talk about: How the AP expects to be paid for a single five-word quotation. Yes, the wire service is selling "quotation licenses," effectively charging publishers who want to stick a few words between certain punctuation for a legal right they actually already enjoy under the First Amendment's Fair Use provisions. There's a sliding scale, with quotations of 5-25 words a bargain $12.50, while quotes that are 251-plus words going for $100. To the New York Times' Saul Hansell, this policy is just the AP's "attempt to define clear standards as to how much of its articles and broadcasts bloggers and Web sites can excerpt." Cute phrasing!

And if you thought that represented the AP going off the deep end of business models, consider this: They're offering up to $1 million for you to snitch on folks who don't pay the fee.

Need all this put in context? If you want to exercise your constitutionally protected right to criticize an AP story on your blog, you'll have to pay them for the privilege. [Making Light via BB]