• Howdy! Welcome to our community of more than 130.000 members devoted to web hosting. This is a great place to get special offers from web hosts and post your own requests or ads. To start posting sign up here. Cheers! /Peo, FreeWebSpace.net
managed wordpress hosting

Legality of linking to illegal thigns.

S

Starcraftmazter

NLC
NLC
SuP.

Now, obviously linking to something illegal, is just as illegal as hosting it. But, what if a user, linked to a site, which links to the illegal site? So basically it's linking to something illegal through a "proxy" site.

The reason I ask is because I know what is being linked to, and I don't consider it wrong.

Thanks :beer:
 
Yeah, you then can be considered to be encouraging, and being party to a breach of legality. While you might get in less trouble, the best thing to do is have a lawyer write you a disclaimer, or just dont link to it ( not that its you or anything)
 
Thing thing is what his website is actually about.

It's a project to modify windows XP, etc, the downloadable is an installer, which includes a serial key, thats the illegal part.

So he wants to host it elsewhere, the problem is linking to it.
 
Thats gonna be difficult, I think Microsoft are pretty protective about that kinda thing.
 
I agree with AMC but Microsoft is very proactive when it comes to keygens etc...but no one has ever been able to say if linking to it is illegal. I mean if thats the case then why hasnt anyone said anything to Google, Yahoo? they surely provide links to illegal content and fairly easy as well. I guess it depends on where your server is and what laws govern :) Anyone else can shed some light on this one for us?
 
XtReMe-HoSt said:
I agree with AMC but Microsoft is very proactive when it comes to keygens etc...but no one has ever been able to say if linking to it is illegal. I mean if thats the case then why hasnt anyone said anything to Google, Yahoo? they surely provide links to illegal content and fairly easy as well. I guess it depends on where your server is and what laws govern :) Anyone else can shed some light on this one for us?
Click to expand...
That's a very good point. To be honest, google etc can't help it. If it was a person with me I would of said no, but opinions are opinions.
 
Google, Are merely a search engine, and therefore do not offer any direct links on there site, their cache merely loads the site lists. They probably have a disclaimer somewhere saying that they act on a non-personal basis, searching meta tags of available sites, and as such are unable to control what the search throws up.

Besides do any of you know a lawyer who would be downright stupid enough to take on Google ( or yahoo for that matter) because i dont.

Where the servers are based cant have anything to do with it. Because Googlr servers are based predominantly in the USA which has the same laws as the UK pretty much. Anyway, the law is one passed by the UN, so its still illegal pretty much whereever you go.
 
Not necesarily true amc there are servers in sweeden, canada, malaysia that arent governed by us or un laws. And it is based on where they copyright laws stands per country..the UN has nothing to do with it at all. I know a few attorneys that would love to get ahold of Google or Microsoft if they had they chance..the only thing they would worry about is the funds to have such a case and keep up with the paperwork they will through at you :)
 
If i was a lawyer , i still wouldnt take on google.
The UK gov tried to sue the BBC ( biggest tv network)
and they kinda lost
 
LOL i think i would just to try it and see what happens also depends on what i was suing for and what kind of evidence we had as well..
 
AMChost said:
If i was a lawyer , i still wouldnt take on google.
The UK gov tried to sue the BBC ( biggest tv network)
and they kinda lost
Click to expand...

I haven't seen the article but surprised by the outcome, the government is a tough one I have been battling with the local council for around 6 months and believe me the barrister fees have rocketed into ten hundreds of thousands. I will never take on the council or government again.
 
This is very much a grey area that most hosts generally try to avoid
and is the very reason why, long ago, we put provisions in our TOS policy
which basically states that anything you link to from your site hosted with us
will be treated as though it were hosted directly and we will count what
you link to as being part of your site for TOS enforcement purposes.

With that provision actually a part of our TOS, users can't whine when we
terminate their accounts because of linking to illegal content that they
have physically hosted elsewhere.

The moment they link to the illegal or disallowed content from their account,
we consider it hosted on their account even if it is physically hosted
elsewhere and nothing more than just a hyperlink.

Linking to a site that forwards to another site where there is illegal content
is considered by our policies to be linking directly to that content and we
will again terminate the user for the same reason. (We know those games!)

I would recommend other hosts consider adopting these same policies
and make similar provisions in there own TOS policies.
 
But see, what if the user links to a site, which links to a site with the illegal content?

In any way, he decided not to include the illegal stuff in his project, so that's less trouble for me 8)
 
Hosts find them selves in more trouble by claiming to view each site rather than have someting in the AUP stating you have the right to look but cant say when it will be due to heavy work load...
Look at the 10000s of shell providers out there 99% are hosting atleast 1 ircd thats linked to a warez network.
 
I did read your post, though it was very confusing.

Regardless, what if then the user links to a site, which links to a site, which has the illegal content?

Where does it end?
 
Technically I THINK it isn't illegal but we just avoid it because honestly, it isn't worth the trouble.

It is the same thing as having a sign up on the streets that points in the direction of a drug dealer but you don't sell or have any affiliation with the drug dealer. It is wrong to do so but not illegal.
 
Yeah thats what i thought to..i dont remember ever seeing that links to where illegal just alot of hosts dont allow it so i think there may be a misconception out there regarding it..
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top