Linking Law

"Linking ... may be at the heart of the Internet, but there are instances where linking to another site may create potential liability for the party creating the link," wrote attorney Ivan Hoffman in "Linking and Crawling Issues," an online article on the subject. Mark Sableman, in his 2001 article (PDF) in the Berkeley Technology Law Journal, agreed. "Despite the Internet's initial 'free linking' ethos, links can be unlawful when they are designed to confuse viewers, to evade court orders or clear statutory prohibition, or to promote illegal conduct by others," the St. Louis attorney wrote. "But most linking is lawful, even where the linked site claims the right to authorize and control links."