From: Tim May <tcmay@got.net>
Date: Sat, 15 Nov 1997 02:15:24 +0800
To: cypherpunks@Algebra.COM
Subject: Re: Hyperlinks case settles at door of court
In-Reply-To: <199711141000.LAA02050@basement.replay.com>
Message-ID: <v0310280cb09233374b45@[207.167.93.63]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



At 3:00 AM -0700 11/14/97, Anonymous wrote:
>Bill Stewart wrote:
>> >The Shetland Times case has been settled - links will be permitted with
>> >certain conditions
>> >See http://www.shetland-news.co.uk/headline/97nov/settled/settled.html
>
>> And it was even settled reasonably, and without setting new bad UK case law.
>
>  People acting reasonably and settling their differences without
>resorting to promoting strict new laws enforced by armed agents
>of the government?
>  The end of the world _really_is_ drawing close, isn't it?
>[That wasn't an earthquake...that was the people in Hell, beginning
> to shiver, from the cold.]

Don't be so fast to applaud this agreement to "settle."

The "settlement" was at the point of a gun, figuratively. The lawsuit.

In the view of many legal experts, and most libertarians I know, one does
not have property rights to _footnotes_ or _pointers_.

Citing a URL is like saying "Read "War and Peace."" Or even giving its call
number in a library.

If some newspaper has URLs for anyone to access, and another newspaper
publishes those URLs, the situation is exact.

I will admit that the Web has made the metaphor of "looking something up"
now much easier. There is a _sense_ that clicking on a link "takes one
there" (to a place). There is a _sense_ that links embedded in a text or on
a page are the property of, or were created by, the author of the text or
page that included them.

This is clearly false, in most cases. People need to be educated about this.

"Settlements" of the sort here are not a good thing if they help establish
the precedent (I realize only court decisions will do that, formally) that
one must ask permission before including pointers, footnotes, references,
and URLs.

And there are many technical solutions. From password security to placement
of large banners in the destination URLs.

--Tim May

The Feds have shown their hand: they want a ban on domestic cryptography
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
ComSec 3DES:   408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA  | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Higher Power: 2^2,976,221   | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."