Don't Link to Us!
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Stupid linking policies


Note:  Don't Link to Us! is no longer adding new links (but not because of anyone else's stupid linking policy).


Sunday, November 10, 2002
American Express prohibits unauthorized hypertext links to its American Express, Food & Wine, SkyGuide, and Travel + Leisure web sites.  DES permalink
Tuesday, October 29, 2002
According to an AP report (cited in Slashdot), Intentia International has filed criminal charges against Reuters PLC, alleging that the news service illegally obtained an earnings report that the company had not yet released, by guessing the URL at which it had been posted on Intentia's public web site. Intentia claims that the report was "not available through normal channels," according to AP. (Also see Financial Times and CNET News.com reports.)  DES permalink
Thursday, October 24, 2002
WPS Health Insurance requires linking sites to sign a linking agreement in order to link to WPS's home page, and prohibits links to other pages on its site. The agreement features three whereas clauses; among the words it uses are hereby and herein (twice each); hereof, hereto, and hereunder (four times each); said (as an adjective, naturally); thereunder; and whereof. It is posted in both HTML and PDF, although both versions have the year "2001" hard-coded in the date field.  DES permalink
Sunday, October 20, 2002
Symantec Corporation permits links to its site, but imposes numerous requirements on linking sites and requires them to agree that the link will be removed upon request. Many other sites have suspiciously similar policies, including Center for Lymphatic Health, Christian Resource Centre (Bermuda), eWord Development, Hodapp Images & Design, International Internet Telephone Organization, Northern Lipids Inc., Paradise Multimedia Productions, Rochdale Online, and Toyzine.Com DES permalink
SonicBoomerang prohibits users from linking to its site without first entering into a written linking agreement.
Update (Mar. 30): SonicBoomerang has removed the linking restriction from its posted terms of use.  DES permalink
Tuesday, October 08, 2002
American Stock Exchange and New York Stock Exchange prohibit unauthorized hypertext links to their web sites. NASDAQ merely insists that other sites link only to its home page, but reserves the right to revoke its consent even to those links. And here's the most egregious linking policy I've ever seen: Chicago Mercant1le Exchange demands a written license agreement from everyone who uses a link to CME's web site -- as far as I can tell, that includes anyone who merely clicks on a link to the site. (If you don't believe me, read the CME Web Site Terms and Conditions. Those terms describe hyperlinks to CME's web site as "brand features" that may be used only as explicitly licensed by CME -- "All specific uses of any CME Brand Features must be approved in advance by CME." The license may be requested by telephone or mail, and CME says it typically responds within 10 business days.)  DES permalink
Saturday, September 28, 2002
Orbitz prohibits users from creating links to its site from other web sites. Virtually identical policies appear at CheapAirlines.com, Cheapfares.com, Clover Tours, Discountfares.com, OTTI Travel, Phuket Hotels and Resorts, and SpeedwayVacation.com. Also very similar are the policies of Mackinaw Area Visitors Bureau and WorldTravelService, except that they allow linking with prior written permission.  DES permalink
Tuesday, September 24, 2002
Sylvania requires linking sites to submit this Link Form. General Electric permits text links to its home page, but requires written approval for all other links to its site.  DES permalink
Tuesday, September 17, 2002
All of these organizations have similar linking policies, possibly "borrowed" from the American Cancer Society's policy (featured on dontlink.com last month). All say that they may grant "approved" web sites permission to link to their home pages, and deep links are prohibited. Arkansas Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry, The Cancer Council of New South Wales, Candlelighters Childhood Cancer Foundation, Crow Busters, Deafness Research Foundation, The Inside Edge, and Spinal Disorders Support Community. Also similar is the National Mental Health Association's policy, except that it doesn't prohibit deep links; the NMHA's External Web Link Agreement Form promises a response within 7 to 10 business days.
Update (Sept. 28): Candlelighters apparently has removed the restrictions on linking from its posted terms of use. The other sites listed above remain clueless.  DES permalink
Monday, September 16, 2002
ExxonMobil says that other sites may not link to its web site without prior written permission.  DES permalink

See the ARCHIVE for previous entries and a search engine.


Don't Link to Us! links to sites that attempt to impose substantial restrictions on other sites that link to them. The Linking Policy for Don't Link to Us! precludes us from requesting permission to link to a site, and compels us to link directly to the targeted page (i.e., a "deep link") rather than to a site's home page. Descriptions of sites' linking policies generally are accurate (though often not complete) at the time they are posted here but are likely to change over time. On occasion a web site will modify its linking policy in response to public ridicule. Perhaps their appearance in Don't Link to Us! will help encourage some of these sites to move forward into the 20th century.
Don't Link to Us! was published by David E. Sorkin.