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Deep linking
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Deep linking
In the context of the World Wide Web, deep linking is the use of a hyperlink that links to a specific, generally searchable or indexed, piece of web content on a website (e.g. https://example.com/path/page), rather than the website's home page (e.g., https://example.com). The URL contains all the information needed to point to a particular item. Deep linking is different from mobile deep linking, which refers to directly linking to in-app content using a non-HTTP URI.
The technology behind the World Wide Web, the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), does not actually make any distinction between "deep" links and any other links — all links are functionally equal. This is intentional; one of the design purposes of the Web is to allow authors to link to any published document on another site. The possibility of so-called "deep" linking is therefore built into the Web technology of HTTP and URLs by default, and while a site can attempt to restrict deep links, to do so requires extra effort. According to the World Wide Web Consortium Technical Architecture Group, "any attempt to forbid the practice of deep linking is based on a misunderstanding of the technology, and threatens to undermine the functioning of the Web as a whole".
Some commercial websites object to other sites making deep links into their content either because it bypasses advertising on their main pages, passes off their content as that of the linker or, like The Wall Street Journal, they charge users for permanently valid links. Sometimes, deep linking has led to legal action such as in the 1997 case of Ticketmaster versus Microsoft, where Microsoft deep linked to Ticketmaster's site from its Sidewalk service. This case was settled when Microsoft and Ticketmaster arranged a licensing agreement. Ticketmaster later filed a similar case against Tickets.com, and the judge in this case ruled that such linking was legal as long as it was clear to whom the linked pages belonged. The court also concluded that URLs themselves were not copyrightable, writing: "A URL is simply an address, open to the public, like the street address of a building, which, if known, can enable the user to reach the building. There is nothing sufficiently original to make the URL a copyrightable item, especially the way it is used. There appear to be no cases holding the URLs to be subject to copyright. On principle, they should not be."
Websites built on technologies such as Adobe Flash and AJAX often do not support deep linking. This can cause usability problems for visitors to those sites. For example, they may be unable to save bookmarks to individual pages or states of the site, use the web browser forward and back buttons, and clicking the browser refresh button may return the user to the initial page.
However, this is not a fundamental limitation of these technologies. Well-known techniques and libraries such as SWFAddress and UnFocus History Keeper now exist that website creators using Flash or AJAX can use to provide deep linking to pages within their sites.
Probably the earliest legal case arising out of deep linking was the 1996 Scottish case of The Shetland Times vs. The Shetland News, in which the Times accused the News of appropriating stories on the Times' website as its own.
At the beginning of 2006, in a case between the search engine Bixee.com and job site Naukri.com, the Delhi High Court in India prohibited Bixee.com from deep linking to Naukri.com.
The most important and widely cited U.S. opinions on deep linking are the Ninth Circuit's rulings in Kelly v. Arriba Soft Corp. and Perfect 10, Inc. v. Amazon.com, Inc.. In both cases, the court exonerated the use of deep linking. In the second of these cases, the court explained (speaking of defendant Google, whom Perfect 10 had also sued) why linking is not a copyright infringement under US law:
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Deep linking AI simulator
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Deep linking
In the context of the World Wide Web, deep linking is the use of a hyperlink that links to a specific, generally searchable or indexed, piece of web content on a website (e.g. https://example.com/path/page), rather than the website's home page (e.g., https://example.com). The URL contains all the information needed to point to a particular item. Deep linking is different from mobile deep linking, which refers to directly linking to in-app content using a non-HTTP URI.
The technology behind the World Wide Web, the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), does not actually make any distinction between "deep" links and any other links — all links are functionally equal. This is intentional; one of the design purposes of the Web is to allow authors to link to any published document on another site. The possibility of so-called "deep" linking is therefore built into the Web technology of HTTP and URLs by default, and while a site can attempt to restrict deep links, to do so requires extra effort. According to the World Wide Web Consortium Technical Architecture Group, "any attempt to forbid the practice of deep linking is based on a misunderstanding of the technology, and threatens to undermine the functioning of the Web as a whole".
Some commercial websites object to other sites making deep links into their content either because it bypasses advertising on their main pages, passes off their content as that of the linker or, like The Wall Street Journal, they charge users for permanently valid links. Sometimes, deep linking has led to legal action such as in the 1997 case of Ticketmaster versus Microsoft, where Microsoft deep linked to Ticketmaster's site from its Sidewalk service. This case was settled when Microsoft and Ticketmaster arranged a licensing agreement. Ticketmaster later filed a similar case against Tickets.com, and the judge in this case ruled that such linking was legal as long as it was clear to whom the linked pages belonged. The court also concluded that URLs themselves were not copyrightable, writing: "A URL is simply an address, open to the public, like the street address of a building, which, if known, can enable the user to reach the building. There is nothing sufficiently original to make the URL a copyrightable item, especially the way it is used. There appear to be no cases holding the URLs to be subject to copyright. On principle, they should not be."
Websites built on technologies such as Adobe Flash and AJAX often do not support deep linking. This can cause usability problems for visitors to those sites. For example, they may be unable to save bookmarks to individual pages or states of the site, use the web browser forward and back buttons, and clicking the browser refresh button may return the user to the initial page.
However, this is not a fundamental limitation of these technologies. Well-known techniques and libraries such as SWFAddress and UnFocus History Keeper now exist that website creators using Flash or AJAX can use to provide deep linking to pages within their sites.
Probably the earliest legal case arising out of deep linking was the 1996 Scottish case of The Shetland Times vs. The Shetland News, in which the Times accused the News of appropriating stories on the Times' website as its own.
At the beginning of 2006, in a case between the search engine Bixee.com and job site Naukri.com, the Delhi High Court in India prohibited Bixee.com from deep linking to Naukri.com.
The most important and widely cited U.S. opinions on deep linking are the Ninth Circuit's rulings in Kelly v. Arriba Soft Corp. and Perfect 10, Inc. v. Amazon.com, Inc.. In both cases, the court exonerated the use of deep linking. In the second of these cases, the court explained (speaking of defendant Google, whom Perfect 10 had also sued) why linking is not a copyright infringement under US law: