Linking to URLs on the web--CNN

[Chuck Munson]

Elizabeth A Johnston wrote:
> 
> Hello Again:
> 
> Well, now, how does this apply to, say, bookmarks? I have several WWW
> sites that I access frequently. For convenience, I have bookmarked them.
> What is the difference if I access them from a bookmark or from a 'link'
> on my own personal page? I'm hitting that server just as often, no matter
> which way I get there. Obviously, I am talking about myself here, and my
> own personal page(s), but what if the library 'bookmarks' places like the
> Weather Underground or CNN for patrons to use as launching points?
> 

I find it hard to believe that people on this list are actually worried about notifying 
sites when they can either link to them or "bookmark" them. Let us look at another 
analogy. When you, as a librarian, create a bibliography for in-library use or for a 
publisher, do you contact the author in each citation? No, probably not.

So I run a web site which Yahoo lists as an index. I have links to a large number of 
"public" sites and personal home pages. Do I ask the owners of personal home pages if I 
can link to them? Sometimes, sometimes not. Many times the "personal" page is not 
developed enough to become a link.

I don't subscribe to any particular form of "netiquette," mainly because I haven't signed 
any of the netiquette texts that float around, but I do follow some of the "mores" of 
cyberculture. One of those is that if you can call it up on your browser then you can link 
to it. If I can find it through Alta Vista or some other search engine, I can link to it. 
There are a variety of technical methods to prevent the world from seeing a particular 
page: password prompts, firewalls, intranets, and files designed to shoo off index 
spiders. While many people aren't aware of these methods, I think that many would prefer 
that the world access their page. Why are the vanity tags of the 90s, those page counters, 
so ubiquitous?

> Another point here that has been touched upon by previous post(s?) is the
> idea that the CNN name/logo is most likely a registered trademark, and
> that seems to me where the legal (as opposed to netiquette...) question
> comes in. Can I just use anybody's name/logo when/where I please? I think
> not. As to the person who lamented the, admittedly at times overzealous,
> activities of the copyright/trademark cops... Unfortunately, that is the
> way it is. That's why people register their stuff. To protect it from
> unauthorized use. So, if I can't say 'CNN' for my link, can I say somthing
> like 'really, really kewl (cool) place to go for news and stuff' instead?
> 

If a site doesn't invite you to put one of their graphics on their page, the best thing to 
do is leave it off your page. You can use the CNN name as you please, but not their logo. 
Life is getting fairly Orwellian if I can't print the name of a company on my page.

If CNN wants to chase me down for not putting (TM) in my link to them, they are welcome to 
sick their lawyers on me. I'm ready for 'em.


> BTW: As for the cold call analogy... Setting up a *World Wide* Web site,
> by my personal definition anyway, implies that you are open for business.
> If you don't want people to look at your pages, then keep 'em outta sight.
> If people can see them, as I said before, then they can link to them as
> they see fit. If your server is getting whomped upon by strangers, then
> shut them out. It's not hard to do.
> 

Yoohoo! Bingo! All right.

> As for how did your name (www site) get on the list, web crawling robots
> are out and about everyday, indexing the web as fast as their little legs
> can go. I was very surprised recently when I got a phone call from a
> person at a large (really big, but shall remain nameless...) corporate
> entity contacted us because he was able to access some things that he
> shouldn't have been able to see. We had restricted the 'front door' to
> this stuff, but he came in thru a link at Alta Vista (a web index/search
> service) that was pointing to an older, now defunct, version of the data.
> (Admittedly, we should not have allowed access there either, but while it
> was in development, no one really cared, and then it kinda got ignored.
> That is until the phone call...)
> 

Ahh yes, you have to remove those old files from the server. It's interesting how search 
engines like Alta Vista have changed the way we look at providing information.

Chuck Munson
ITD
University of maryland