TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:Re: Is framing theft? From:"Huber, Mike" <mrhuber -at- SOFTWARE -dot- ROCKWELL -dot- COM> Date:Mon, 1 Jun 1998 15:14:50 -0400
My thought on the topic is that most of the problems involve a
combination of framing and deep linking.
My thought is that, as a matter of ethics, or at least courtesy, framing
that makes outside content look like it's part of your own site (without
permission) is theft. I'll leave the legalities to lawyers, but it's
wrong, or at least impolite.
Now, I'm going to comment on defenses. The fact that there are defenses
against hijacking content doesn't make it right any more than the fact
that I could have had a stronger doorframe made it right for that
burglar to kick down my door.
Using frames to put your company identity or ads around your own content
is tempting. It gives a nice, consistent look, and keeps the stuff in
the viewer's face. It means you don't have to repeat it.
But it opens your content to deep linking. If your logo or ad is on
every page and some other company links it into a frame, they get your
logo or ad. Maybe it's not the best look for your content, but your
material is seen complete.
There are also JavaScript tricks that can break out of frames, or worse.
A page can "know" it's being displayed in a frame, and, while the usual
thing to do about it is to redisplay the page in it's own window, a
devious webspinner could make the frame hijacker quite sorry.
Actually, a devious webspinner could make the content incompatible with
the frames without resorting to JavaScript. Something as simple as a
clashing color scheme, or, in the Sidewalk case, some text that is a
poor fit with the sidewalk metaphor...
---
Office:mike -dot- huber -at- software -dot- rockwell -dot- com
Home:nax -at- execpc -dot- com
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Tracy Boyington [SMTP:tracy_boyington -at- OKVOTECH -dot- ORG]
>Sent: Monday, June 01, 1998 10:42 AM
>To: TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
>Subject: Re: Is framing theft?
>
>Walker, Arlen P wrote:
>
>> The site designers, also named as defendants as is the ISP, compared
>> framing the newspapers' sites to putting a "courtesy of" sticker on
>> newspapers given away at hotels, a common practice.
>
>I believe it's also common practice to *buy* those newspapers before you
>put the sticker on them.
>
>> As a webspinner myself, I have a great deal of sympathy for the newspapers'
>> point of view. The content *is* their business, not a byproduct of it, or
>> another avenue for selling it, and making it appear as if the content came
>> from someone else seems wrong to me.
>
>Me too, Arlen. I'm interested to see what others think.
>
