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

[Marsha Weeks]

Donald A. Barclay wrote:

> 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.

The problem with this analogy is that the appropriate analogy would be
whether it would be legal for me to put up a billboard advertising another
company.  Since this would involve using trademarked information such as
their name, it might be actionable.

>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.

No matter the ethos, that doesn't mean that something's legal.  

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

CNN isn't trying to stop people from viewing thier site, they just want to
control their trademark. I don't necessarily agree with what CNN is doing
but I'm trying to view this from a legal standpoint, not my own personal
feelings.

-Marsha

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