Whatever idiot at Agence France-Presse is pushing to keep its stories from being linked widely might want to do a re-think after reading this.

AOL is far more powerful than Agence France-Presse. At one time its walled garden was the most powerful force online. Its shareholders took 45% of Time Warner's equity in 2000, and while that's now worth a fraction of what it was (thanks to the fact they weren't really worth the price), it's still a lovely parting gift (and thanks for playing our game).

Well, after spending billions of dollars and five years fighting the inevitable, AOL has succumbed.

Its new strategy, as the LA Times story notes, is to try and get AOL stuff out to as wide a Web audience as possible.

The company plans the biggest strategic shift in its history this summer, with a new Web site, new IM service, and most of its content out on the Web, not hidden behind the firewall.

One thing the Times' story doesn't make clear is that AOL has always had a significant presence "beyond the wall," such as Mapquest. Sites bought as Web sites have continued as Web sites, allowing AOL to measure its ability to draw traffic (and profits) directly from the Web.

They're not doing this in ignorance, but with eyes wide open.

This has a lot to do with the Agence France-Presse suit, as a recent online conversation with Carl Malamud is making increasingly clear.

The French agency wants to control links, not only to its site, but to the sites of affiliates, at least to those pages on affiliates where its copy appears.

Does it then not want blogs like this to comment on its stories, or newsgroups to comment on them? Apparently. Which means it wants to make money off the Web without giving anything of real value to the Web. It's a one-way street.

And even the most powerful American company has found, that doesn't work for the bottom line, not in the long run.