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Sambhar Mafia - Cooked To Kill!

Wednesday, September 28, 2005

Can a link land you in trouble?

ET says that links to some sites can land you in trouble as some of the links circumvent the ads in the respective sites:

A hyperlink or link is a reference from one website to another, usually distinguished by underlined text in a different colour or a graphic or an image. Conventionally, linking from others has been welcomed by linked websites, as it increases traffic to the linked website--access through link records “hits” to the linked website--the advertising rates and thus the revenue of the linked website.

Recently, however, websites are challenging the practice of linking without seeking prior permission from the linked websites. The most common contentions being loss of control over how users experience their websites, loss in advertising revenues due to deep linking that bypasses the advertisement-laden homepages.

Also, the users may not even realise at times that they have been relocated to a new website via these links. Several legal issues have arisen in relation to hyperlinking, such as copyright infringement, trademark violation and passing off, unfair competition and defamation.

So is ET going to take me to task for linking to this article?

posted by Kaps at 1:38 AM

12 Comments:

  • Kaps,

    I have a link to your site through blogrolling. While I never sought permission to do that earlier, I hope I would get that now :o)

    By Blogger Woodooz, at 3:24 AM  

  • You may be a potential target for ET, kaps..

    By Blogger Ram C, at 7:37 AM  

  • @Somu,
    U are free to blogroll me. U don't need permissions. Just one drive in your new car would suffice :-)

    @Ram,
    I don't care. ET should be more than happy if I drive some traffic their way.

    By Blogger Kaps, at 10:13 AM  

  • I guess this topic is bound to resurface with every influx of newcomers to the Internet way of doing things.

    I've blogged about it in some detail, but in brief: FUD!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10:41 AM  

  • thats weird - i thought blogs websites were about linking each other and spreading the news through these links - the things ppl complain - what will they think of next!

    By Blogger Visithra, at 12:21 PM  

  • link is the most basic component of internet. if permissions need to be asked even to provide a link, the internet would cease to exist. when would these guys at ETL understand that they belong to the previous generation.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4:00 PM  

  • Can't believe this!
    Are they nuts?

    By Blogger Minal, at 8:36 PM  

  • Oops! Just when I was beginning to discover the pleasures of linking :)

    By Blogger Anjali, at 9:45 PM  

  • @Deepak aka Antrix,
    Your post made good reading. It sets the balance right

    @Visit,
    Linking is the essence of blogs / internet. hope ET gets the idea

    @Lazygeek,
    You are bang on. ET is still in a previous era

    @Minal,
    I'm sure they are

    @Anjali,
    Better to ignore this article.

    By Blogger Kaps, at 1:53 PM  

  • oops! no linking? this means bloggers - including me - will have to start thinking of new and original things to write ;)

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 2:04 PM  

  • @Charu,
    Our links will remain strong. Don't give much importance to that article.

    By Blogger Kaps, at 3:17 PM  

  • More on the topic of linking... http://www.amitranjan.com/2006/01/17/are-indian-legalfinancialethical-frameworks-out-of-sync-with-the-internet-economy

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4:25 AM  

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