Should linking be illegal?(internet freedom under attack)

Posted July 6th, 2009 by legalizeliberty

http://www.guardian.co.uk...

In a misguided attempt to aid newspapers, one of America's most influential judges is suggesting a new copyright law

Those who wish to keep the internet free and open had best dust off their legal arguments. One of America's most influential conservative judges, Richard Posner, has proposed a ban on linking to online content without permission. The idea, he said in a blog post last week, is to prevent aggregators and bloggers from linking to newspaper websites without paying:

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, might be necessary to keep free riding on content financed by online newspapers from so impairing the incentive to create costly news-gathering operations that news services like Reuters and the Associated Press would become the only professional, nongovernmental sources of news and opinion.

Posner's notion set off an eruption from the likes of Jeff Jarvis, Matt Welch and Erick Schonfeld, among others. And they are right to be furious. Not only would Posner stop online media dead in their tracks, but he would also overturn long-established rules of fair use, which, among others things, allow for the reproduction of short excerpts of copyrighted material for the purposes of commentary, parody and the like – precisely what bloggers and aggregators do all the time.

continue reading at the link
http://www.guardian.co.uk...

Thanks to the CFL website for the heads up*)

output

Link this!

On July 7th, 2009 FoxCreek says:

I have a dream!
I dream of a day when this country, no, this WORLD , is free of the EVIL with which it is currently plagued.
A day when all the peoples of this planet are free to enjoy the fruits of their labours, without the heavy hand of tyranny stealing all that has yet to be earned.
I dream of a day when all the people of every land can look to the future with HOPE.
GOD BLESS RON PAUL.
HR 833
http://www.opencongress.o...

Posner Is A Well Known Nazi

On July 7th, 2009 sheldonwaxman says:

In the form of a socialist. Wish people would stop using the analogy that Conservative means anything. It is a worthless term. Even you favor freedom or not. Left/right. Conservative/liberal mean nothing. They are a game the press plays with us. And even libertarians get caught up in it. The media painted Milton Friedman (God rest his soul) as a Conservative, although he denied it many times. What is a libertarian/conservative or a libertarian liberal. These terms are all nonesense. Are you in favor of big government? Well, if you are, you are my enemy.

I LOVE MY COUNTRY/ I HATE MY GOVERNMENT

Sheldon Waxman
sheldonw72@gmail.com
www.independentcontractor...

I think they are just afraid

On July 6th, 2009 Realdeal says:

I think they are just afraid of the way the internet has changed the news we get. This is just a distraction from what is really bothering them. Never before have we seen so much information that is not just coming from the "state run news." Yep. They're all terrified.

Nice logic

On July 6th, 2009 Tannim says:

And some people here have said in the past they like Posner WHY?

By his twisted (lack of) logic, anything that links to copyrighted material should be banned. Free speech implications aside, that means the following would be banned:

- Bookmarks
- Hyperlinks to other sites
- All search engines
- All search tags and keywords
- All e-commerce sites that link back to manufacturer pages
- All banner ads

Yeah, it would kill the web. It would also destroy most paper publishing that includes links as well.

IOW, this idea is a modern non-starter, and in fact just proves that Posner is a nutcase.

web publisher can block referred links

On July 6th, 2009 Wiseburn says:

Any publisher can already block http requests by testing the referring website which is provided as a http header.

No law is needed.

This is absolutely true. I

On July 6th, 2009 xenoclone says:

This is absolutely true. I can't stand it when non-technical people try to solve technical problems.

Presets on your radio and

On July 6th, 2009 Commdude says:

Presets on your radio and channel selection guides for your TV, therefore, according to him, should be banned, because they link to copyrighted material.

This guy must be smoking crack.

We could also ban library catalogs. Want a book? Go fish!

On July 6th, 2009 sempiternal says:

Ron Paul's Convention Speech

If Linking is Outlawed Then Only Outlaws Will Have Links

On July 6th, 2009 sempiternal says:

Ron Paul's Convention Speech

Good one!

On July 6th, 2009 RawfoodLiberty says:

Tim Berners-Lee would laugh

On July 5th, 2009 LoveandLight says:

The guy who created the www gave it to us all for free; and this antique wants to "regulate" hyperlinks?

Now I have to laugh.

What is wrong

On July 5th, 2009 AMC says:

The Idiot Box goes nuts over a guy dieing who sleeps with kids and allegedly rapes them with our consequence.

And they want to out law linking.

Thank legalize, for this and so many

On July 5th, 2009 reedr3v says:

informative links you provide often for the DP. You are a great researcher.

Thank you so much for such positive feedback

On July 7th, 2009 legalizeliberty says:

I am in a small resort town now hard to get internet here but was still able to find one place and here you should see my smile.
Thank you & Thank you Michael for posting this on the front page on DP.

"The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government -- lest it come to dominate our lives and interests."
-- Patrick Henry

Hey, you have another one on the front page, too. :)

On July 7th, 2009 Jiminy Cricket says:

The Rolling Stone article a few down from this one.

I know I know

On July 7th, 2009 legalizeliberty says:

both of them I included in an email to Michael a few days ago.
Thanks so much for bumps.

Why not just do htt

On July 5th, 2009 paulsjv says:

Why not just do htt ://www.linktoarticle.com and have people cut and paste the link in the browser.

Seriously, this is a f'n joke and this 70 year old fool more than likely doesn't know crap. I mean they want to regulate blogs and now linking. Hell the RIAA couldn't sue every illegal downloader out there there is NO WAY they will be able to regulate the net unless they really do want an over populated prision system (think concentration camps) and ruining everyone's life that writes on forums, blogs, news groups, irc, chat room, user groups, emails, etc. It's absurd and no way will ever get anywhere b/c if it did there would be hell to pay.

Well

On July 4th, 2009 kevinz says:

At least they have very imaginative ideas..

They know what to waste..

On July 5th, 2009 SimpleSam says:

Their money on because they are so threatened by some web articles as clearly these folks are part of the "enemy hive mind" of corporations which views them as a pariah.....

Fight on. People must be free to decide what they want to see, or read.

Using links to prove a source when reproducing short excerpts...

On July 4th, 2009 Jiminy Cricket says:

...is like listing sources on a bibliography page, only in an immediately verifiable way.

Showing sources is a good thing, right?

Thanks for a bump my friend

On July 4th, 2009 legalizeliberty says:

Happy 4th of July *)))
cyber hug flowing east to ya*)

Maybe

On July 3rd, 2009 dducks says:

talking should be illegal too because language belongs to the caveman who thought it up.

hahahaha

On July 3rd, 2009 legalizeliberty says:

& cavemen hold the rights to the fire starting process.(^_^)

I smell fear

On July 3rd, 2009 FoxCreek says:

And ignorance.
Don't they realize that linking drives hits to their sites?
Creates revenue for them by exposing people to their sponsors' ads.
I guess when you have more money than brains to begin with, you don't have any need for Common Sense.

the elite

On July 3rd, 2009 legalizeliberty says:

they would love to go back to the pre-internet times.
It is all about control over what the masses think as Alex Jones calls the Infowar on your mind.

They only believe they are elite

On July 3rd, 2009 FoxCreek says:

I consider a person of honor and virtue to be elite.

BUMP

On July 3rd, 2009 danieleleventhi... says:

good info. Keep alive

Not only would Posner stop

On July 3rd, 2009 cactus1010 says:

Not only would Posner stop online media dead in their tracks, but he would also overturn long-established rules of fair use, which, among others things, allow for the reproduction of short excerpts of copyrighted material for the purposes of commentary, parody and the like – precisely what bloggers and aggregators do all the time.

I think that's the point...Posner wants to stop online media dead in it's tracks. Another attempt to silence the Internet.

Thank you

On July 3rd, 2009 legalizeliberty says:

Thanks for keeping the thread alive.

Only linking to Fox , Cnn , Or Newsweek should be illegal.

On July 3rd, 2009 sentinel says:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Live like you mean it ..... Your life is your own !

Like it or lump it, we gotta

On July 3rd, 2009 livefreeordie says:

Like it or lump it, we gotta protect the bad in order to keep the good.

hahaha

On July 3rd, 2009 legalizeliberty says:

the day they would try to prevent me from linking to the Daily Paul I would buy hundreds of spray paint cans and start painting on the walls sidewalks....now that would be linking.

Thanks for a bump my friend.