You can link if you play nice

Deep-linking is definitely a contentious issue between bloggers and the companies that own the sites that are the targets of their links. While the jury is almost literally still out on the subject, it seems that the pendulum has swung away [warning: PDF link] from the linkees. The idea that one can control how others will link to their websites seems absurd to me, but many companies are trying to do just that.

It appears that Cingular is up to some antics with their Terms of Service (emphasis mine):

You are granted a limited, nonexclusive right to create a hypertext link to the homepage of the Sites, provided such link does not portray Cingular Wireless [...] in a false, misleading, derogatory, or otherwise defamatory manner. [...] This limited right may be revoked at any time.

I don't know how their team of lawyers could have written this with a straight face, let alone thought it could be enforceable. According to TechDirt, "stupid linking policies are largely a thing of the past," and I would have to agree.

I suppose time will tell, but what I can't understand is why they would care about something like this. Is this an attempt to curb negative publicity on the internet? If so, something tells me that this is definitely not the best way to do it. Of course, this may be reverse psychology; there's no better way to get bloggers to do something than to tell them that they aren't allowed to do it.

I, for one, won't fall into their trap.

Link (via Consumerist)