Another day, another crazy idea of how to make money on the internet. There’s a unique twist to this one though, it’s a charge for the fundamental building block of the web – hyperlinks.

I’ve just read McGarr Solicitors post which describes how the National Newspapers of Ireland (NNI) are trying to collect money from any website that link directly to an online article of any of their member’s papers.

I think James Van Der Beek can sum up my feelings: Slow Clap

Will NNI seek a license agreement from Twitter and Facebook for all direct links to their content? Will Google, Bing, Yahoo, and other search engines require a license to include links in their search results? Will they seek license fees from bit.ly, droplr, and other link shortening services?

I’m flabbergasted by this development, which to my mind, seems to be an attempt to bully and extort money from small groups and individuals.