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Sola
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May 1, 2003, 2:50 PM
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What are the legal implications?
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This is really for the many webmasters here who obviously have been doing this longer than I.
Let's say you run a directory like Google's. Can a site owner say he doesn't want to be listed in your site? I mean it is on the Internet accessible to the whole world. Can he?
So, I run a FREE directory of websites related to a country. I find and add these sites mostly. A particular site was listed for several months. At some point, I noticed the listing started jumping upwards some 200 hits (more or less) daily. It was obviously being slammed by someone who figured out clicks counted in the Category/overall Top Hits. And so a site that had 125 hits went to 900+ under a week.
On a couple of occasions, I reduced the hits to the pre-slam count and had my DB rebuilt to show the slammer I was monitoring the development. He would relax a couple of days, then get back to it.
So I deleted the site for a couple of weeks. I received an email thereafter from the owner of the site that he couldn't find his site online. I brought the slamming to his attention and he acted like he didn't know anything about it.
Okay, let me quickly clear something. I don't send emails to listees. I am not into porn. This is a directory of a country-related sites on the internet, part of an intellectual webspace - full of the finest new generation of writers from my country, many multi-published authors, PhD holders, professors in universities across the world. I don't run adverts. It is a non-commercial listing/website. I run a very respected simple space.
I recently added the site again. Of course the hit count reads zero now. The guy is upset. He wants to be started off at the last hit count he had or not be listed at all. I am not worried about his huffing and puffing. It just got me thinking what legal implications exist in listing a website that does not want to be listed in your database? Will Internet listings work like email and telephone optouts (shouldn't!) or like reference books that list relevant items impartially? I wonder if anyone has given this a thought too. I don't want to remove the link because my directory automatically becomes incomplete if I know of a relevant site that's not listed. But are there legal implications?
Thanks.
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Dave
Staff
/ Moderator
May 1, 2003, 6:38 PM
Post #2 of 4
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Re: [Sola] What are the legal implications?
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Sola, here's some of my feedback. Keep in mind, of course, that I'm not a lawyer. If you need real legal advice you're best to talk to one. :)
If I was to guess, I would say that the fact the guy cares so much his "hit count" in your directory, or whether he's listed or not at all, makes me think he's probably the cause of your problems. :)
The issue with the internet is that people are in all different jurisdictions and what's legal/illegal in one place may not be in another.
If all you're listing is a url and a description it's highly unlikely that he'd be able to win any kind of case against you - what your listing is likely more or less public information. It's not like you have any copyrighted content of you're defaming him in some way.
That said, people can sue you at any time for any reason, valid or not, and if they want to spend the money on lawyers there's not a lot you can do (other than spend the money to defend yourself). Realistically though, is this guy likely to spend $500 to have a lawyer sent you a cease and desist letter? Or follow it up with $5k - $50k or more launching a lawsuit against you. Probably not. What he has to gain is much less than he has to lose (money wise).
You could post his link regardless and bet that he's likely to do little but perhaps complain loudly - or - you could respect his wishes and drop his link completely (that's what I'd do). He'll probably be back complaining next week that we wants it back. :)
If your curious if it was him, you should scan your logs for whatever URL triggers his counter and see if the requests are all from similar IPs. Then, check the header from the last email he sent you for his IP and/or check his website IP and see if they match.
Dave Edis - Senior Developer
interactivetools.com
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Sola
User
May 1, 2003, 6:59 PM
Post #3 of 4
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Re: [Dave] What are the legal implications?
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Thanks for your response, Dave. You have indeed given me some pointers. I'm not worried about him suing or something. I'm just curious what rights he has over his "public information" which I am not maligning in any way. It is just another link. I happen to be a stubborn goat and will not remove the link. Thanks again. Just wanted another take on it.
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jcocking
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May 1, 2003, 7:11 PM
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Re: [Sola] What are the legal implications?
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It sounds like you are counting the number of times a link is used. You can prevent this several ways. The ultimate would to have a database that tracks every IP for every link, but that would be overkill. All you want is for someone to see that hitting the link from the same computer does not increment the number. One way is to add a few lines of code to the counter that does the following: - Checks last IP used for linking
- If IP is same Links without incrementing the counter number
- If IP is different counter=counter+1
- Store last IP in a file.
Or, you could load a cookie when someone hits a link. Then if the cookie exist on the persons computer, then do not increment the counter.
There are numerous ways to prevent this. The key is if the person will see that it is not incrementing. The person will not come back just to click on the link.
jeff
Jeff Cocking
Lotus Elan (AM 1.38)
VoIP Phone Comparisons (AM 2.02)
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