I have no doubt at all you're correct about it being political in the case of WP/LAT. But on the other hand I also believe it's within the rights of the copyright holder to insist on excerpting. I don't agree with the tactics of the RIAA either, but I agree that P2P file sharing of music is theft.
IMO that's a valid argument. But if the newspapers, etc. want to continue benefiting from the hits being directed their way they'd better find a way to accomodate deep links. I presume their ad rates depend upon of the number of hits.
On the question of deep linking, Spinello suggests that in all cases, Web sites wishing to connect to internal content should obtain permission before doing so.
IMO anything that defeats search engines' web crawlers defeats all of us. What is absolutely marvelous about the Internet is the ability to search everywhere and retrieve information in seconds.
This could be the beginning of the end of the most importent element in the free press.
And if the left, et al. revise the "Fairness Doctrine" it's back to the dark days of ABCNNBCBS. That of course means an end to free speech. That of course means war this time. The bloody kind. People are a lot more savvy today than they were in the 1960s.