re: LAW: Legality of deep linking to Web sites

From: Michael Wiik (mwiik@messagenet.com)
Date: Fri Jan 19 2001 - 09:39:53 MST


The MPAA vs 2600 case established that it is illegal for 2600.com to
link to certain sites carrying DeCSS info. AFAIK, this is the only law
that prohibits linking, and applies only to 2600. Last I looked, 2600
was printing unlinked URLs to such sites.

Max More wrote:
> (The article appears in a new browser, exactly as it would appear if the viewer had gone there directly.)

Opening a new window is often done at the insistence of the marketing
department. Web usability studies indicate that the BACK button is the
2nd most frequently used web navigation technique. I would much prefer
content to appear in the *same* window. That's the expected behavoir. I
suggest you inform your visitors if content will open a new window.

Aside: I maintain a site on Greek Mythology(*). Interestingly, I was
getting lots of emails requesting permission to link to specific pages
within the site. Almost all of this email was from students who said
their teacher required them to get this permission. (I got tired of
answering these emails and put what I hope is a clear policy on the
site's homepage).

        -Mike

(*) http://messagenet.com/myths/

-- 
======================================================================
Michael Wiik
Principal
Messagenet Communications Research
Washington DC Area Internet and WWW Consultants
http://messagenet.com
mwiik@messagenet.com
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