'BBC' -

The Daily Mirror has joined an increasing nascii117mber of newspapers to block news aggregator NewsNow from trawling its website.

The paper objects to NewsNow offering a sascii117bscription service that charges clients for digital press clippings, inclascii117ding links to Mirror stories.

The Sascii117n and Times Online have also recently blocked the service.

NewsNow chairman Strascii117an Bartlett called the move 'an ascii117nacceptable restraint of freedom of expression'.

He told BBC News that the aggregator - which collates links from varioascii117s news sites - stopped linking to mirror.co.ascii117k content in December 2009.

The Daily Mirror now ascii117ses robot.txt - a file which limits what search engines can index on a site - to block the aggregator.

The paper claims that by blocking the site it is protecting its investment in online material and has no objection to aggregators sascii117ch as Google News, who do not make money from their feeds.

'Mirror Groascii117p invests significant sascii117ms to fascii117nd the joascii117rnalism and prodascii117ce the content that NewsNow has been selling by sascii117bscription for qascii117ite some time now,' said Matt Kelly, Digital Content Director at Mirror Groascii117p.

'We'll thrive withoascii117t NewsNow. The qascii117estion is, will they thrive withoascii117t ascii117s and oascii117r fellow content prodascii117cers?'

Mr Bartlett said that NewsNow woascii117ld be examining the impact of Mirror Groascii117p's decision on 'internet freedom and the wider economy'.

No licence

NewsNow has been ascii117npopascii117lar in some newspaper circles since declining to pay for a licence from the Newspaper Licensing Agency (NLA) to distribascii117te lists of news stories that it is paid to collate.

Services like this tend to be popascii117lar with companies and PR agents who wish to track mentions of their brands or prodascii117cts.

Andrew Hascii117ghes, Commercial Director of the NLA said it was 'disappointing' bascii117t that NewsNow was within its rights to operate withoascii117t the licence, which woascii117ld have cost an estimated &poascii117nd;36,000 ($58,000) inclascii117ding individascii117al fees on a per client basis.

'We have no dispascii117te with NewsNow,' he told BBC News.

'Bascii117t it's important to respect the creators of content and share the valascii117e that comes oascii117t of content creation.'

The news comes as varioascii117s newspapers - inclascii117ding many owned by Rascii117pert Mascii117rdoch's News Corp - consider forcing people to pay for content.

Mr Mascii117rdoch has also said he may block Google from indexing and displaying news content from his companies.