Net Q & A

Question of the Month: February 2003

I plan to comment about and link to another site from my web page. My comments will be favorable, but should I also ask permission before linking? [From Network-Lawyers]

As background for analyzing this topic, it's important to understand that except in unusual circumstances, linking to a web site confers a benefit on the party who is being linked to.

Links provide a direct benefit by directing traffic to the linked site. There is also an indirect benefit: Having a large number of links built to a site cause it to rank higher in sophisticated search engines like Google.

Therefore, a link like you describe should not be a problem. Permission is not legally required to build a link, whether your comments will be positive or negative. In some limited situations, "framing" (incorporating material from another site so it looks like your material) can give rise to legal liability.  Lawsuits have been filed over "deep linking," which is linking to a sub-page, instead of the "home page". The theory is that this causes viewers who would otherwise visit the home page first to miss banner ads they would otherwise see on the way to the sub-page. It doesn't sound like the link you are describing would be considered objectionable.

It used to be considered polite to ask for permission before building a link. I think this rule has come to be honored only in the breech. I would never think about asking for permission to link to a site. I write a lot of articles for web sites and I simply don't have time to ask for permissions, and keep track of a lot of link requests.

The Link Controversy Page contains a detailed bibliography on this issue.

Jerry Lawson