Slashdot Mirror
That Link You Just Posted Could Cost You 300 Euros
Nate the greatest writes "Do you like to tweet or share links to interesting news articles? According to a coalition of Irish newspapers, that makes you a pirate. The National Newspapers of Ireland has adopted a new policy. Any website which links to one of the 15 NNI member newspapers will have to pay a minimum of 300 Euros, with the license fee going up if you post more links. Note that this is not a fee to post an excerpt or some punitive measure for the copying of an entire article. No, the NNI wants to charge for links alone. It's almost as if this organization has no idea how the web works. Or maybe they have found an elaborate way to commit suicide."
hahaha. ha. hahah. lol. haha hahaahahahahahhahhahhahhhahahahahhahahahahahahsahahahahhahahhahhahah
Google won't want to pay, so Google won't post a link to their sites. Ever. Anywhere.
The notion is that the owner of the website would have to pay for such links... It would be up to the website to extract payment from its users... Which, in the case if one that permits anonymous comments, is not possible, and the website would assume liability.
it's absurd, and can't be enforced outside of their own jurisdiction.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
Company policy isn't law.
Maybe in Ireland. Wait till the Americans get the same idea.
"Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
Well, they can say what they like on their web site's terms and conditions, like:
"Hypertext links to this website by other users and websites are permitted provided that the link to this website is in a simple list of companies by pointing to Goreyguardian.ie's home page http://www.goreyguardian.ie./ This limited licence entitles other users and websites to link to Goreyguardian.ie's home page only, and linking to other content on or information in this website is prohibited without Goreyguardian.ie's express written consent. "
That doesn't make it enforceable law, though.
It's like a car dealership sueing anyone that shares the street address of the car dealership.
The Internet King? I wonder if he could provide faster nudity.
Why are you posting links to these jackasses? If they want to vanish into obscurity because nobody is permitted to link to (a.k.a. mention) them, why not let them die?
http://www.nni.ie/v2/broad/index.php
And yes, I'm truly an anonymous coward.
Best look out for email from one of these addresses (from nni.ie):
NNI People
Matt Dempsey - Chairman
- no email provided -
Frank Cullen - Co-Ordinating Director
fcullen@cullencommunications.ie
Ann Marie Lenihan - Communications and Public Affairs Manager
amlenihan@cullencommunications.ie
Anna Clarke - Advertising and Marketing Manager
aclarke@cullencommunications.ie
Enda Buckley - Environment Officer
ebuckley@cullencommunications.ie
If they don't want people linking to them, the should set up an Apache Redirect Rule for all Get Requests that have a Foreign site as the Referrer.
Silencing free speech and expression with lawsuits when you can easily curtail that behavior on your own should be seen as unconscionable and any such lawsuit dismissed, with any fees associated in the defense against those claims rewarded to the defendant.
Not least because I haven't read their terms and conditions, and can link to their site without doing so.
If they don't want it linked, they shouldn't respond to HTTP requests.
No, the solution is to tell them to go fuck themselves. They haven't got a leg to stand on.
A better solution is to not link to them at all. That goes for everyone who links to them, including Google, Microsoft and all other search engines. If they want to live in a vacuum with no visitors and therefore no revenue, let them.