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New Orbitz Terms Prohibit Inbound Deep Linking
chekovma writes "Orbitz has announced a new set of Terms and Conditions that take effect March 12th which require anyone who uses their website (creates an account there) to follow strict inbound linking rules. These rules prohibit a user from creating even a plain text link to orbitz.com without first notifying them and require a user to take down such a link at their desire. It also disallows any deep linking -- meaning even this post violates those terms and conditions."
Can't their web server just reject or redirect any page requests that don't have a referrer field of their own web site?
No sharp objects, I'm a programmer!
Well, by signing up with them for an account, you agree to terms which aren't like those usually associated with browsing the web. If the pages are something you could get to without agreeing to terms, then it would be difficult to justify their position, but when you click "I Agree", you've agreed not to.
Of course, something like this is enforceable through technical means, which is probably more workable as a solution.
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Here are a couple of examples of why someone would want to deep link:
A competitor may want to deep link in order to directly compare rates for flights... similar to what Progressive does with car insurance. Or, some unaffiliated company (like a travel agency) may want to build their own travel web portal and simply use the Orbitz site to show/reserve flight information without Orbitz's permission.
-- http://www.w3.org/2001/tag/doc/deeplinking
Or maybe, Legality of 'Deep Linking' Remains Deeply Complicated
BTW, anyone who reads this post owes me $20, that's my TOS.
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It looks like a flight booking site. I could not find any flights with it as it does not support flights that originate in Europe (including Russia), Africa, Asia, Australia and South America.
Although no longer updated, David E Sorkin's Don't Link to Us! page is still relevant.
A page like that could be useful for shaming companies into improving their linking policies.
And funnily enough, Orbitz also appear on that page too (an incident in 2002).
It appears that they are slow learners. Or just plain retarded.
Their pop-up/under ads are exactly why I have never been to their web site nor will ever use it. Even their TV commercials were annoying. I guess this latest "policy" sounds like business as usual.
"He's lost in a 'floyd hole"
I doubt you'd be able to patent it, there's too much prior art.
Just one example, poke around the Apple Store for a bit. Find something cool. Try to send the link to a friend. It won't work for them.
This kind of thing is trivial for a database-backed web site, which both the Apple Store and Orbitz undoubtedly are. They're either being lazy or stupid, or the web monkeys are revolting against management by implementing their ideas in a stupid way.
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- American
- Continental
- Delta
- Northwest
- United
Travelocity is a SABRE company. Expedia is the Microsoft controlled travel site.Well, it would appear that if they deny your eloquent request you just have to use http://www.orbitz-sucks.com which might not be covered under the TOS:
"Site" means the www.orbitz.com website and/or the www.orbitzforbusiness.com website, and their respective subsites, together with the respective Content, Marks, Products and Services available from these sites and subsites.
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I know of a case from the Netherlands where newspaper editors wanted to prohibit deep linking to their sites. The judge did not honor the request.
IMHO you can link to whatever you want on the Internet. There are enough ways to prevent your content being accessed by unauthorized people. The content provider is the only one responsible for its authorization management.
I hadn't the slightest objection to his spending his time planning massacres for the bourgeoisie... (P.G. Wodehouse)