US newspaper owners 8216;mad as hell8217; over copyright

8220;We are mad as hell,and we are not going to take it any more,8221; said the chairman of the Associated Press,a cooperative of over 1,400 US newspapers,borrowing a line from the anchorman character in the 1976 movie 8220;Network.8221;

8220;We can no longer stand by and watch others walk off with our work under misguided legal theories,8221; Dean Singleton said at a meeting this week of the Newspaper Association of America NAA in San Diego,California.

Singleton8217;s battle cry came just a few days after News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch launched a broadside against Internet giant Google,whose Google News website is one of the most popular news aggregators on the Internet.

8220;Should we be allowing Google to steal all our copyrights?8221; asked Murdoch,the owner of newspapers in Australia,Britain and the United States,where his holdings include The Wall Street Journal and New York Post.

8220;Thanks,but no thanks,8221; the News Corp chairman said.

Robert Thomson,the managing editor of The Wall Street Journal,used even harsher language than his boss in describing the situation.

8220;There is no doubt that certain websites are best described as parasites or tech tapeworms in the intestines of the Internet,8221; Thomson said in an interview with the newspaper The Australian.