I’m not sure what the AP thinks it will accomplish with this new attempt at DRM. Most of the net will simply filter the content down to its components and link to the article, or it will go meta and links of links will link to links of links to the real deal. Simply put, opinion will be formed by individual observers of the original article and from there, a reader may or may not wind the way back to the DRM’d content. So it goes in the real world, so it goes in the virtual world. Consider it pass-along circulation AP, and move on. No one cares about the meta data within your production. Newspapers have generally been free in diners, restaurants, bars, offices, my doctors waiting room, and my school will have a few laying around. The only way to protect your work is by moving purely digital, a la the Kindle, iPhone, or other electronic reading device that prevents pass along.
Sure, your new method will inject a lot of data into the streams of providers who are already consuming your service, and I don’t know at what cost this service has been, or will be after it is instituted. But I can’t imagine anyone is happy about this. I think it is a horrible idea, but I’m not the one who can see light at the end of the tunnel you are walking.
If anyone can glean something from this, please feel free to contact me.