Because the sky is falling in the newspaper industry one United States Court of Appeals judge in Chicago suggests changing the face of the internet. He wants to make a huge change in the rules for linking and freely sharing information: Before you link to another site, you’d need permission from the other site. In the judge’s words.. from his blog:
Expanding copyright law to bar online access to copyrighted materials without the copyright holder’s consent, or to bar linking to or paraphrasing copyrighted materials without the copyright holder’s consent. . . (read more on his blog)
Oh wait, posting that quote would be breaking the proposed law above. I suggest that clearly Judge Richard Posner doesn’t have a firm grasp on this whole new fangled “interweb” thing. But I digress because this blog is about photography, but using the broad brush above, your work and blog would fall under the protections suggested by Mr. Posner. Yes folks, if something this absurd was passed into law it would make it illegal for your clients grandmother to spread her love of your photography via a link to your blog without your prior consent!
While we’re locking down all the information might I suggest we have everyone turn in their library cards and we burn the books as well. Even more scary, according to tech crunch, Posner was once considered as a nominee for the supreme court.
via|techcrunch
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8 Comments at "A Law Against Web Links?"
Does this mean Google and Yahoo break the law a zillion times a day?
I never registered with Yahoo, but there I am, link and all, without my consent.
This is just silly…
It’s absurd really. Links on the internet have value. Mr. Posner clearly doesn’t understand that.
As described it would mean that before linking to any copyright protected material one would need to be granted permission by the copyright holder.
I mean really it’s so absurd that it could not possibly become law. It changes the entire dynamic that the internet has grown up around.
I guess we could always add at the end of each blog post “permission is granted to link to this blog”, or something like that.
I can’t imagine needing to contact site owners like that – in essence it would cripple the net. Further evidence that education and intelligence are not equivalent!
The internet is just that…a net of connected information…(a net).
I can’t believe this is even a public conversation.
I used to think that people in high positions or public office were somehow blessed with special intellectual gifts. As I have gotten older I’ve come to realize that these offices are often held by morons, just like the rest of mediocre society.
Wait a second, weren’t new laws and changes to old ones only supposed to come from the legislature, NOT the judicial branch? Oh wait, this is Chicago, and there are plenty of activist judges overstepping their authority.
Not until it becomes an official law or is being considered by the legislature should anyone worry. There have been plenty of judges who to do tons of wacky things. Constitutionally, it shouldn’t happen, and rarely does ever it happen outside of places like California.
Yes, it would be good to keep an eye on malcontents like these. No, you shouldn’t loose any sleep over it for the moment… until we here Barry or Biden start talking about “policing the internet,” that is…
Wouldn’t this make google and search engines illegal? They do both…
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