The Ghost of Snapped Shot

We have been informed that the Associated Press takes issue with our use of their images on this website, and until I'm able to resolve this matter with them amicably, I'm going to have to take the site offline.

Please feel free to e-mail me if you know more about this kinda thing. I'm posting a copy of the AP's letter in the extended body of this article, for full disclosure.

Background
Snapped Shot is a site that deals with the criticism of photojournalism. The industry is inaccurate in its reporting, it falls for terrorist propaganda too easily, and in general, the photos that you see presented as "news" on a daily basis are nothing more than fluff. This site has, from the beginning, intended to correct that by presenting specific instances of bias or inaccuracy along with commentary as to why said photographs are inaccurate. I have never drawn a profit from this website, and have never received compensation for any of the "copyrighted" works that are owned by the AP. Furthermore, I have always been careful to give full credit to the wire photographers who have taken the pictures, and have even interacted cordially with a handful of them.What The?
So why is the AP seeking action against me? I am not making any money off of their work. I am not a mainstream "news" site ala Yahoo, Google, or Breitbart. So what's the deal? Is the Associated Press uncomfortable with the content of this website? Have I struck a nerve too close to home? No idea, but if you're a lawyer that deals in intellectual property, I'm ready to become your new best friend...

The Mrs. suggests that I start blogging about Gardening. I dunno, don't you have to deal with the National Gardening Association to do that? [Ed.:—Okay, bad "legal threat" joke. At least I still have my well-honed sense of pun!]

As an aside, I'm somewhat befuddled on this point, and hope that some of you can help clarify this for me. How in the world can one provide analysis, commentary, and criticism on news photographs, if they are forbidden from actually showing said photograph? Did the Associated Press crack down on people who clipped newspapers out and shared them with their co-workers? Did they crack down on the thousands of fax-lists that powered New York through the 80's? And is this even relevant? I'd love to hear what you think.

I hope to continue with this blog, even though it's pretty clear that the form of it will change. I just need to make sure that everything's squared away with the current situation first. Please do stay tuned--I'll be posting updates here as I have them.

A kindly reminder to all: No lawsuit has been filed as of yet. As of now, I am only dealing with the heavily-implied threat of one. -B.

I am considering rounding up donations to purchase a valid license to operate with all Associated Press photos on this site. That would be the ideal situation for all of us, as the AP would theoretically be glad to get another paying customer.

However, I think there's much more potential here: What if we could create a website where anyone could comment on and critique the AP's work? Where the photos could be available for longer than the average 1 or 2 weeks that places like Yahoo! News offer? (I've got plenty of other ideas, but I'll leave it at this for now.)

The costs for doing this kind of thing are pretty high, but if there's anyone out there that's looking for a nice venture along these lines, be sure to let me know.

(I'd love to hear what you think of the idea, even if you aren't one of those people.)

Links
My deepest gratitude to everyone here who rushed to help me here. Your response was truly awe-inspiring!

• The Jawa Report
  
• LGF (link updated)
  
• Elder of Ziyon
  
• doubleplusundead
  
• Ace of Spades
  
• The National Review (And yes, it does.)
  
• This Goes To 11 (For the record, I neither endorse nor condone in any way the escalation described here. For obvious reasons, I hope.)
  
• Confederate Yankee
  
• Riehl World View
  
• Pirate's Cove
  
• TNOYF (Nice! A famed "TNOYF Top 9 List!" It's definitely #4, btw. ;) )
  
• Newsbusters, Stop the ACLU, Grizzly Groundswell, Blogger News, Publius Forum (With my deepest gratitude to WTH!)
  
• Winds of Jihad
  
• P.C. Perspective
  
• /.
  
• A Second Hand Conjecture
  
• Protein Wisdom
  
• Al Salibiyyah
  
• Lamplighter News
  
• Note To Self
  
• Bydio
  
• BVBL
  
• Support Your Local Gunfighter
  
• This Ain't Hell, but you can see it from here
  
• FreeRepublic
  
• AP Check (sounds like a blog I should associate more closely with!)
  
• Scott's Morning Brew
  
• Bob's Bites
  
• Atlas Shrugs
  
• Another funny one from TNOYF. Thanks for the laugh, Buckley!
  
• Jules Crittenden - The Newspaperman speaketh! Thanks, Jules! :)
  
• Anorak
  
• The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler
  
• RightNation
  
• Daily Pundit
  
• Media Backspin
  
• Small Dead Animals
  
• The guys at TNOYF have come across a transcript of the behind-the-scenes AP meeting that resulted in this little SNAFU. I should've known Mahmoud Abbas was involved in this somehow!
  
• Instapundit links to Jules. Guess that means he missed the couple of e-mails I sent him?
  
• Mark's Soapbox
  
• Infidel Blogger's Alliance
  
• Freedom Folks
  
• Spank That Donkey
  
• Wolking's World
  
• Moonbattery
  
• This Goes To 11 has identified some "creative" ways to get around copyright issues. I'm not sure that the alteration is dramatic enough for the AP lawyers to notice the difference from the original, though. ;)
  
• Bill Hobbs
  
• Blonde Sagacity
  
• Mister Snitch
  
• Fellow ODBA member SWAC Girl
  
• Likelihood of Confusion
  
• And a funny explanation from fellow ODBA member Isophorone
  
• The Foxhole
  

 Tags: copyright AP