The discussion about the aggregation and distribution of content on the web heated up this week when the Associated Press announced plans to “launch an industry initiative” designed “to protect news content” online.

The announcement — characterized by the New York Times‘ Saul Hansell as a “war on search engines and aggregators” — drew considerable fire, including blasts from Google, BusinessWeek, the Online Journalism Review, TechCrunch, and this classic broadside from Danny Sullivan at Search Engine Land.