Linking
  abuse
  basics
  commerce
  intellectual
  privacy
  risks
  social
  speech
 
Index    
     
Intellectual Property - Electronic Copyright  
Study Guide
      Linking refers to a web page providing an internet link to another web page, so that one can go right into another's web site at the click of a button. This seems to be one of the strongest advantages of the internet itself, and it should appear beneficial to the linkee because that site is getting more business, right? Well, "deep links" involve providing links several pages deep into a website, potentially skipping initial advertising provided by the linkee's site. So, ethical and legal issues have arisen conserning whether or not linking should be allowed. 

      META tags were developed and made a HTML standard for the purpose of addressing specific information about your web page that does not affect the way your page actually looks.

      Meta Tags are the "tags" that inform searches which keywords should pull up a website, and these tags are hidden from the user. 

      The primary META tags that affect promotion include the "Description" and "KeyWords" tags. Also mentioned here is the "Title" HTML tag used to define the title that appears at the very top of your web browser when you visit a web page.

      Unfortunately, many people are taking advantage of these tags and having tags that either have nothing to do with the site (i.e. Al Gore used MP3 as a meta tag in his campaign website) or other companies use competitor names as thier own metatags (i.e. Coke might use a 'Pepsi' meta tag).

      Most major search engines no longer use meta tags when searching for pages.

       

    • What is the Linking Controversy all About? 
    • Should web sites link without permission?
    • What are MetaTags and Why? 
    • What are the ethical implications of web developers creating links to other websites? 
    • Considering US Copyright Laws, Is Linking to another site Copyright Infringement? 
    • On the other hand, is limiting Linking a violation of the First Amendment? 
    • For Meta tags, is it ethical to use your competitors names for your own site's keywords?
    • What's lawful and what's unlawful in linking?
    • What are your linking rights?
    • Should links divert or confuse consumers?
    • What about trademark infringement?

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