The advent of digital journalism has had a number of unsettling consequences for traditional media powers in recent years, including a significant reduction in revenue in several cases. But according to Atlantic columnist Peter Osnos, a new licensing framework may help reporters recoup some of the profits that many believe have been pilfered as a result of news aggregators.

The Associated Press, New York Times and Washington Post are just a few of the big name organizations behind a series of proposed intellectual property reforms.

"The initial objective is to license content from leading news gatherers that is now being used (pilfered is the operative term) by aggregators who have paying customers or sell advertising on their sites but do not flow any money back to the content originators," Osnos explained.

According to the Technology Spectator, this saga underscores the growing contention between content producers and third-party beneficiaries reflected in ongoing SOPA debates. Although foreign counterfeiters and pirates are the expressed target of the legislation, it remains to be seen if or how the provisions will apply to seemingly less egregious violators such as news aggregators.