AP Intends to Embed Spyware in Articles

This will not make the AP popular on the Web, in the NYTimes. Though I rarely do, I will make every effort not to link to AP articles.

' ... Each article — and, in the future, each picture and video — would go out with what The A.P. called a digital “wrapper,” data invisible to the ordinary consumer that is intended, among other things, to maximize its ranking in Internet searches. The software would also send signals back to The A.P., letting it track use of the article across the Web... '

Update: Scott Rosenberg says AP is going nuclear on this.