eb Legalities: Linking
A link is the address of a web page which is maintained on a
page which allows you to jump to the new web page. One of the
great things about HTML and the world wide web is this ability
to link sites together. This results in the internet truly
becoming a web, and the benefits to the surfer are tremendous.
It is normal for virtually every site on the web to maintain a
list of links to "favorite", "featured" or "special" places to
visit. This is almost never done with permission, nor does it
need to be.
Remember that we are discussing linking to pages on other web
sites, not graphics, zip files, sound files or anything else.
Only HTML-style pages are acceptable for cross-linking. Linking
to other types of media files is called bandwidth stealing and
is highly unethical. Also remember, do not link to other
people's CGI routines without permission.
There is some concern over the acceptableness of this linking
behavior. Some commercial sites are not happy with linking
because it bypasses their "home page" or sidesteps their
advertising. There is even some discussion that linking is a
trademark infringement or violates some other sacred rights.
This is all silly talk by people and organizations who
completely misunderstand the nature of the world wide web. The
best practice of everyone creating a site is to complete ignore
this asinine discussion totally and to link vigorously and
constantly.
In my opinion the best way to think of linking is to associate
it with the "fair use" laws. These are the laws which allow
people to include short quotes from published and copyrighted
works in their own materials. This is not illegal or unethical -
in fact it is absolutely necessary. Imagine how difficult it
would be for a college student to write a term paper if he could
not quote authors, or how impossible it would be for a critic to
do his job if he could not include a few lines from the work he
was writing about.
Fair use is something that comes under attack by dimwits
sometimes. It is essential that we, the people, constantly use
the fair use laws, as if they become unused then they will
become illegal. We must defend our rights to quote and "borrow"
snippets from other sources.
Note, however, you should follow some guidelines when linking.
- Keep your links simple. Fair use allows small quotes, and as
long as you keep things short you should be fine. If you start
including complex graphics or long passages of text then you are
putting yourself at risk as well as possibly plagiarizing.
- Get permission where possible or feasible. This can work to
your advantage, as you can do a "link exchange" which has many
uses (more links to your site means a higher popularity by
search engines).
- Include a section of your own which explains to your visitors
that you have no control over external links You think they
might be of interest, but you don't have any responsibility for
their content.
- Again, only link to HTML and text style pages. Do not link to
multimedia files (images, sounds and videos).
- Also, remember to not link to CGI routines (and other
executable objects) without permission.
When you are designing your own site, it's a great idea to be
sure that you understand that people will be bookmarking and
linking to any and every page that you've got. Search engines
also are notorious for sending visitors willy-nilly to whatever
page they believe fits a search topic. Thus, your navigation and
overall design must allow visitors to move around freely on your
site regardless of which page they land upon.
The bottom line is simple. People can link to any page they want
to within your site (just as they can bookmark anything at
will). Those webmasters who moan about this practice or make
attempts to stop it are wasting their time and have little
understanding of how the internet really works. Those who plan
their website around the concept will create a better experience
for their visitors, gain more traffic and thus better achieve
their goals.