Deeplinking and Freedom of Speech.
Upcoming this week is an expected rulling by a Danish court on the issues ofdeep linking by NewsBoosters The suit was brought by the Danish Newspaper Publishers' Association [DNPA] who claim deeplinking violates thier copyright.Tisk, tick. When will people learn that anything you put on the internet becomes public domain [hello NPR], and freely accessible to anyone. This in no way invalidates my copyright, because I still own [and control] the origional content [or prior art in copyright terminology]. All a link, or URL = Universal Resource Locator, involves is a pointer to content. A URL, in no way takes, steals or borrows anyone's content; again, the URL just points to the page someone has placed on a publically accessible server.
The attempted controlling of users, and more specifically authors, from linking specific sites is foolish, and because of the nature of the web, mutually exclusive. The web is built on open-architecture with multiple redundancy, with a vocla group that advocates freedom of dissemination. It is baffles the mind that groups want to limit exposure to thier site, especially in the case of deeplinking, where your content is still available. What makes the DNPA claim ludicrous, is that the deeplinking being litigated over is not the more annoying, and unethical, framing or deeplinking images. The fact is NewsBoosters is bringin all of the DNPA [and other news outlets] more pageviews, and thus, more probability that viewers will click on the advertising banners on the individual pages.
That is the real problem, the percieved loss of revenue by the DNPA members, because the deeplinking bypasses the ad-heavy index page. When will people learn that banner advertising is about as effective as Donald Trump making money as a pan-handler. There have been many, many studies that have discussed banner strategies, but I think we can all agree that we ignore them. But advertisers and marketroids have controlled print and television for so long, their paradigm has not changed during the switchover to digital. Now we are forced to endure full page ads, in hope that we will click on it, and the site can earn $.03 US. This model is not viable, and people know it. Why do you think Salon.com went to subscriptions and k5 is broke.
The real issue, again, is control if information and dissemination. The viewpoint of the entrenched media is best expressed by Jamie C. Kellner, chief executive of Turner Broadcasting who stated:
"The free television that we've all enjoyed for so many years is based on us watching these commercials. There's no Santa Claus. If you don't watch the commercials, someone's going to have to pay for television and it's going to be you."
The mainstream is worried about the internet, again, because they cannot contol it. They cannot control it and therefore cannot gain profits from the internet using thier already established models. Unfortunatley, like all entrenched entities, "old media" is very slow to adapt to new ideas and models, and thier first reaction is to protect thier outdated business model through litigaiton. The real sadness is that "old media" {I'm looking at you RIAA and MPAA] can make large sums of money if they adapt to the market, like good capitalistic companies they allege to be.
The people of the world do not owe any corporation continued revenue in perpetuity. While government and the legal system should, and must not, legislate and litigate continued revenue for outdated buisness practices. Just ask your local chapters of the Whale Oil Union, and the Lamp Lighters Union and the Buggy Whip Union. The world changes, and so too does business. That is the strength of the corporation: the ability to amass large amounts of capital and the ability to direct that capital in a flexible manner. It appears in the "modern" world, the latter has fallen by, and the 1000lb gorilla is thrashing for its life.
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This is the permanent home of Deeplinking and Freedom of Speech.. I wrote this post at 00:14 on June 25, 2002. This post is part of grubbykid.com, a weblog. If you liked this entry, why don't you read some other posts such as Stupidity or Train Travel and Missappropriations? Or you could go to the site archives or return home. All are good choices.
