Hyperlinks and Protecting Your Content

LCKatMPN

Please correct me if I'm wrong, and advise me if you can, in reference to the situations I detail below:

1) If a person wants to hyperlink to the content on your SmugMug site (or on any Web site for that matter) they can do so without concern of infringement on copyrighted material. The only time the courts will step in is if the hyperlink is to illegal material.

QUESTION ONE: True or not?

2) I am on online newspaper. A community newspaper wants to link to my content from their website and is asking for permission to do so. I do not want to grant this permission unless it becomes part of a paid contractual agreement, because in effect I would be giving them my work for free. Plus, they would in effect be representing my content as theirs, even if they credit my business.

QUESTION TWO: Can I block a person and/or a company from linking to my SmugMug site?

QUESTION THREE: If, indeed, I can block a link, can I block it selectively, so that I can allow one anchor site in but not another?

Thanks,
Linda
www.MyPaperNow.com

Andy

LCKatMPN wrote:

QUESTION ONE: True or not?

Impossible to say... sorry. Too many unknowns.

QUESTION TWO: Can I block a person and/or a company from linking to my SmugMug site?

selectively, no. You can block external links entirely, via customize gallery options.

jfriend

LCKatMPN wrote:

Please correct me if I'm wrong, and advise me if you can, in reference to the situations I detail below:

1) If a person wants to hyperlink to the content on your SmugMug site (or on any Web site for that matter) they can do so without concern of infringement on copyrighted material. The only time the courts will step in is if the hyperlink is to illegal material.

QUESTION ONE: True or not?

2) I am on online newspaper. A community newspaper wants to link to my content from their website and is asking for permission to do so. I do not want to grant this permission unless it becomes part of a paid contractual agreement, because in effect I would be giving them my work for free. Plus, they would in effect be representing my content as theirs, even if they credit my business.

QUESTION TWO: Can I block a person and/or a company from linking to my SmugMug site?

QUESTION THREE: If, indeed, I can block a link, can I block it selectively, so that I can allow one anchor site in but not another?

Thanks,
Linda
www.MyPaperNow.com

I am not an a attorney so I cannot offer you legal advice. If you want to be absolutely sure here, then you probably should consult a licensed attorney.

That said, here's what my experience has been.

Linking (a text hyperlink) to someone's material in a way that does not misrepresent who's material it is should be absolutely fine and is one of the principles that the internet is based on. For example, I can put a link to a CNN article in my blog without any issue. I suspect that the community newspaper's policy of asking for permission is more their own policy decision than it is a legal requirement. Certainly, if they did not ask for permission and the owner of the target content didn't like it, the owner could mess with the URL or the content at that URL and that isn't what the newspaper wants. Asking for permission is probably their way of making sure that you don't mess with the content after they link to it.

Direct linking to an image (where the actual image is directly included in the content as opposed to a link to the image) is a different matter. Because this implies that the content is owned by the owner of the page and there is usually no attribution, this requires permission.

On Smugmug, you can block direct linking (where you images are directly included in another web page) by turning off external linking for the gallery in the gallery options.

The only way to block hyperlinking to one of your pages ahead of time is to put a password on the gallery or on your site. If someone hyperlinks to a page of yours and you don't like it, the things you can after the fact are: add a password, change the content to something else or delete that page so that the content is no longer available at that URL.

There is no way as a Smugmug customer to selectively block links from one site, but not another. A web-site with fully progammable access to the web-server could have logic that would look at the URL of the referring site and allow some in, but not others. This is not a feature that Smugmug offers.

LCKatMPN

Andy wrote:

Impossible to say... sorry. Too many unknowns.
selectively, no. You can block external links entirely, via customize gallery options.

Thanks.
Here's another question, then:

1). When I shoot and report an event, I collect names and email addresses. Later, after the News-Shot© gallery is posted, I send email messages to the people I inerviewed to let them know the coverage is available online for their review. I send them an email that says (for illustration purposes): "Coverage of the Relay for Life at Bloomingdale High School is available online at www.MyPaperNow.com. Feel free to post your news as well. Enjoy!" The email includes the link to the site.

QUESTION: If I block "external links" entirely, does this block as well the link address I send to viewers via email? I tested it just now and it appears that it does not.

jfriend

LCKatMPN wrote:

Thanks.
Here's another question, then:

1). When I shoot and report an event, I collect names and email addresses. Later, after the News-Shot© gallery is posted, I send email messages to the people I inerviewed to let them know the coverage is available online for their review. I send them an email that says (for illustration purposes): "Coverage of the Relay for Life at Bloomingdale High School is available online at www.MyPaperNow.com. Feel free to post your news as well. Enjoy!" The email includes the link to the site.

QUESTION: If I block "external links" entirely, does this block as well the link address I send to viewers via email? I tested it just now and it appears that it does not.

As I tried to explain in my post, blocking external links only blocks "direct links to an image" where the image is included in another site's web page. It does not block a hyperlink where someone clicks on a link and is taken to your smugmug web page.

LCKatMPN

jfriend wrote:

As I tried to explain in my post, blocking external links only blocks "direct links to an image" where the image is included in another site's web page. It does not block a hyperlink where someone clicks on a link and is taken to your smugmug web page.

Thanks.
I posted my new question from another screen, which means I did so before I read your very well written and informative post.

Thanks again,
Linda