Linking to URLs on the web (was Useful Training pages...)

[Chuck Munson]

Donald A. Barclay wrote:
> 
> This business of linking URLs is really part of a larger problem. A while
> back that CNN was providing news on the web.  Our library had a link to
> this site until we got a threatening message from CNN saying we couldn't
> link to their site unless we paid.
> 
> We cut the link, though I think CNN had no more right to tell us we
> couldn't link to their wide-open WWW site than the owner of a billboard
> posted beside a public highway has a right to tell passersby not to look
> at the billboard without paying for the right to do so.

They don't have a right. We all know what the current ethos is on the web--if 
you make your information available to the world expect the world to show up. 
If you want to charge, you damn better have a password front door to your 
site.

Isn't this like the proverbial story about the baker who wanted to charge the 
townspeople for "smelling" his wonderful products?

> 
> Of course whether what <<I think is right>> would stand up in court is
> something I'll never know until such a case goes to court. Still, my
> feeling is that if you don't want people linking to your URLs, either
> don't put your stuff on the web or protect your site with a password
> system.

Bingo. You would think the tech folks at CNN would understand that. You can't 
provide a free service and charge for it too, unless you do it the right way 
(like ESPN). My policy is that if something comes up on my browser I can link 
to it.

Okay, now we can expect some librarian to do their civic duty and bore us 
with how this relates to "fair use."

Chuck Munson "intellectual property is theft"
University of Maryland College Park Libraries