Linking to sites that infringe copyright

Is this illegal?

[Purple Martin]

Hi everyone,

If I link to an external site that I know is infringing copyright laws, am I breaking the law as well? Or can I link to anything I like wihtout fear of punishment because it's not me doing the infringing?

Thanks in advance for all guesses/opinions!

[digitalghost]

<disclaimer>I an not a lawyer</disclaimer>

I really don't think anyone can haul you into court and win a suit for linking to a site that is infringing.

The real question is whether or not you want to support a site that is infringing on someone else's copyright. ;)

[Purple Martin]

Good point, but I help to run a security-forums site, and the members regularly post links to other sites that contain useful (but not always legal) content. I'm just wondering how carefully I need to moderate thousands of external links.

Now that I think of it, this may be an issue that WW / SEW have faced - maybe a mod/admin can comment on how they deal with it?

Thanks

[engine]

Hi Purple Martin,

In short, managing links is a challenge to a publicly accessable board. There are always those that turn up with a single minded approach to spam, spam, spam. Becoming too liberal with links will reduce the value and quality. Additionally, direct quoted content from other sites or content elsewhere can lead to copyright issues.

WebmasterWorld does have terms of service [webmasterworld.com] and every member is expected to adhere to the guidlines.

Perhaps if you created and published your own equivalent of TOS you and your members might find it easier to make choices as to whether a link should remain or be deleted.

HTH

[Brett_Tabke]

Also, think about putting all external links on a redirect. That may help some. It's not specifically why I did it here, but I think it's helped.

[Purple Martin]

Thanks for the advice guys - greatly appreciated :)