do I need permission to list other domains?

[Daria]

I want to put bunch of links on one of my websites. Do I need to ask permission from those sites, if they are not personal pages?

For example, if I want to make a list of, say, girls' magazines, i.e. vogue, cosmopolitan, etc. with links to them? I'd hate to write letters of permission to all of them...

I don't think I need permission to post them if they list themselves in search engines.

Strangely I can't find info on it because it doesn't fall into the copyright and such info category, unless I'm looking in all the wrong places (happens to me all the time :))

I guess it's kind of a public domain issue.

Please, let me know what you think and know yourselves...

[AdamGundry]

There shouldn't be a problem with you linking to the root page, and usually you should be ok "deep linking" to content within a site, as long as it is not prohibited by the site itself. The whole point of the WWW is to link pages, so stopping people from linking to your site is very unusual.

Of course, if the link is somehow derogatory or similar you should ask permission first, as you should if the content is targeted at a small (private) group.

For what you describe, there should be no problem.

Adam

[Daria]

Thanks!

[luds]

I was always told that it's just courteous to ask to link to other peoples sites.
You might even get some sites who'll return the compliment and link back to yours (good for google rankings!)
A quick mail is all that's required, and they'll usually let you copy their logo, which makes for a more colourful web page, instead of just text links!

luds

[Nevermore]

I wouldn't have a problem with people sending me free traffic. Why would anyone?

[web-eagle]

Well, there might be a problem if I were say, a member of one organization trying to make another organization appear foolish by linking to select pages. For instance, what if I was trying to make a point about a political or religious belief, and linked to another party’s or denomination’s site to try and cast them in a bad light. (It’s been done!)

I also know of some studios who have shut down certain fan sites for displaying copyrighted images, when all that was being used was a link back to the studio. (This is also a bad thing to do, eats up bandwidth, whole 'nuther topic!)

In a specific situation, I had a client who was selling HGH (human growth hormone), and they wanted a video link to a television station who had run a news story about the positive benefits of HGH. Well, I did that, and everything was OK for a few weeks. But so many sites started linking to that station, they were afraid it might start to look like the station was endorsing a product. They (the station) asked all websites to pull that link, which I did.

For my money, it’s always best to ask permission. Like cijori said, most webmasters would welcome the traffic, but for a number of reasons, some might not.

One of my clients was a chiropractor who wanted a link back to their alma mater. I sent an e-mail to the university requesting to link, and they sent me back a message requesting to see the site first.

Professional establishments have a great deal invested in their public image, and they deserve the right to say whom they’re associated with.

(BTW, I’m up against the exact problem you describe with my current project, designing a portal site for a very specific audience. There will be almost 70 links, all with appropriate logos gathered from the sites themselves. It’s a TON of work, but integrity is NEVER wasted.

As an added benefit (one I’m already seeing come into play), by having permission from a few “heavy hitters”, it’s MUCH easier to get the smaller sites on board, and I’ve already had a few requests from sites I didn’t know about to be added to the list. That creates a new problem, since I now need “official” criteria to keep up the standards. Whoever said the dotcom boom is over just hasn’t been paying attention.

But I digress.

Bottom line: GET PERMISSION!

Legally, you might not "have to", although it could save you some legal wrangling in the future, becoming more and more important the larger your audience becomes. It's more than just being nice. It's professional.

[Daria]

OK! Though I agree on "get permission" subject in general, it could become a major pain on the b*tt if I'l try to get through all of them. What I am trying to do is to create a directory on one of the subjects - just a directory, no "check this idiots out" or other nonsense like that. Ideally I would like to have a few thousand links of interest related to that particular website (I'll give you guys a link once it goes live - the site owners don't want it spilled out prior to...), we already have quite a collection, pulled mostly from the search engines. Unfortunately we do not have resources to go through all of them to comb for the contact email and to send them all emails for the permission. The reasoning is - if those guys submitted their links into major search engines, they wouldn't mind extra traffic of people who are interested in their doings.
Although we are definately posting a disclamer for someone to be able to choose to take their link off our directory.

[khaki]

hi Daria...

if i understand what you are asking...
you only want to provide a text link...
such as:

<a href="www.cnn.com">CNN</a>

NO! you don't need permission for that!!!!
if anyone starts "legal wranglings" for that stuff....
the whole internet will shut-down :rolleyes:

however....
if you use logos....
that could be another matter (although i didn't see where you said that you were looking to do so)
but even so.... you'd have to have a pretty offensive (and well-known) site to be singled-out to remove a logo link :rolleyes:

text links are everywhere on the internet.
permission to link???!!!
NO WAY

link-away all you want....
don't even worry about it....

;) k

[Daria]

Yep, that's exactly what I'm talking about. Thanks!
I've been thinking of adding meta description as well, but it is still in a planning stage and shouldn't be a problem (to my understanding) since it's their own descriptions.

[khaki]

I've been thinking of adding meta description as well, but it is still in a planning stage and shouldn't be a problem (to my understanding) since it's their own descriptions. well....
that's where you might hit a potential snag... since the "content" of the sites (including their own descriptions) belong to the owners of the site.

i'm not a lawyer so i'm not going to say that you couldn't/shouldn't do it...
but that is different from just adding a text link from your site to theirs.

but... like i said:
you'd have to have a pretty offensive (and well-known) site to be singled-out for doing something like that.
but you never know :rolleyes:

you are safe with the text links though.
the other part.... well...
that's up to you ;)

;) k

[jrlamar]

Daria,

I agree with khaki on the META descriptions: You may want to be careful, as many phrases commonly associated with companies are trademarked. Then again, the company names themselves are trademarked as well. So just to cover your butt (legally, that is), I would suggest adding this disclaimer (in small text) at the bottom/footer of any pages that have outside links to other services/companies:

All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

or

All trademarks are the property of their respective holders.

I've seen it both ways in various print ads that include references to other corporations. That should save you any legal hassle later on.

Jason

[web-eagle]

Well, it’s easy to see who’s in business and who’s working for somebody else! :D
!!CMDSEQ: REMOVE TONGUE FROM CHEEK

I think there is a huge difference between a listing in what amounts to a directory intended for a general audience (the search engines) and anything that could infer an association (a link from your website).

Keeping what I said previously in mind, if my link is going to be one out of a thousand (or more) I don’t have to worry about anybody finding it anyway. It sounds just one step above a FFA site.

I’d say in all likelihood, you’ll be fine doing just what you were really hoping someone would tell you is alright anyway. Lawyers only go after the deep pockets. Besides, including the disclaimer as well as an “opt out” condition, should keep you fairly safe.

Have fun and best wishes.

[Daria]

MANY THANKS for your input, people!

[Kaisa]

Well what i am going to do for my site (which is the lazy way) is put all the links on my site and images from other site's on mine etc. , but here's the catch if any author does not like there images etc. on my site they can just email or leave a message on the fourm or guestbook saying to remove it and i will ASAP :D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

[Nevermore]

If you get sued for breach of copyright etc., I don't think 'I'm too lazy' is going to go down well...

[nkaisare]

There was a queer case of "KPMG Idiocy". Chris raettig linked to a KPMG website and got an email from them informing him that permission was required to link a KPMG page on his site.
http://chris.raettig.org/email/jnl00036.html
http://madman.weblogs.com/2001/12/05
http://comments.****edcompany.com/phpcomments/index.php?newsid=16882418553&page=1&parentid=0&crapfilter=1

[Daria]

Thanks for the links :) I had good time reading... Too bad you can't find KPMG company song anymore...