A passing thought on an IP issue...
Jul. 10th, 2002 09:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alexpgpOne of the minor tempests on the Web today is the issue of "deep linking," a practice that entails providing a link directly to a specific "page" at a web site. Some number of folks with Web presence (e.g., NPR) specifically want everyone to know that they will not permit such practices. I seem to recall there have even been recent court cases argued (e.g., in Denmark) where prohibitions against deep linking have been upheld.
(Actually, the deep-linking page that NPR had put up, saying that "linking to or framing of any material on this site without the prior written consent of NPR is prohibited," has been taken down. I guess they didn't like the bad publicity.)
The argument goes something like this: the folks who don't want you to deep-link want everyone to enter at their site's home page, so that visitors can be regaled with the Full Monty, as it were, before allowing you to vector off to find a specific tidbit of information on their site.
Can you imagine what the effect might have been if book publishers had insisted, back when the practice was new, that scholarly references provide everything but the page number in a citation?
To me, there's not much of a difference between prohibiting deep linking and prohibiting the publication of page numbers in references. By providing a page number (e.g., p. 70 of this week's Time magazine), I am encouraging people who are likely interested specifically in what is on that page to ignore the rest of the issue. I mean, there's at least as much of an opportunity to click on another site link from a deep-linked page as there is to look at some other page than 70 in a paper-based publication, isn't there?
Of course, if you did try to get people to buy the idea of "you can cite everything but the page," they'd think you were crazy.
And rightfully so, methinks.
Cheers...
(Actually, the deep-linking page that NPR had put up, saying that "linking to or framing of any material on this site without the prior written consent of NPR is prohibited," has been taken down. I guess they didn't like the bad publicity.)
The argument goes something like this: the folks who don't want you to deep-link want everyone to enter at their site's home page, so that visitors can be regaled with the Full Monty, as it were, before allowing you to vector off to find a specific tidbit of information on their site.
Can you imagine what the effect might have been if book publishers had insisted, back when the practice was new, that scholarly references provide everything but the page number in a citation?
To me, there's not much of a difference between prohibiting deep linking and prohibiting the publication of page numbers in references. By providing a page number (e.g., p. 70 of this week's Time magazine), I am encouraging people who are likely interested specifically in what is on that page to ignore the rest of the issue. I mean, there's at least as much of an opportunity to click on another site link from a deep-linked page as there is to look at some other page than 70 in a paper-based publication, isn't there?
Of course, if you did try to get people to buy the idea of "you can cite everything but the page," they'd think you were crazy.
And rightfully so, methinks.
Cheers...
