There is currently a case running in the Danish courts that will effectively decide the law in Denmark for linking to a page other than a home page, typically known as deep linking.
We are not talking about hot-linking, pulling an image or video off someone else’s server into the middle of your own content, but linking as you might to this blog article, using the permalink.

There is a mapping company in Denmark that creates web pages based on other people’s data, such as a company address, and provides maps on how to get there.
They then bury deep within their terms and conditions a link to another page that states that they will charge you money if you link to one of their map pages without permission.

I suppose that is similar to me adding a terms and conditions page, and from that a linking page stating that anyone who links to my blog has to pay me $1000.

Sounds like a lot of money doesn’t it?

Krak.dk only charge $940

Krak.dk have been forced / encouraged by their previous outing on Digg’s front page to not charge a blogger for linking to a map, as long as they are not for profit, and providing they ask permission first. As of this writing however I am led to believe they haven’t changed their official paperwork on their site, or improved their notification on the content pages that you could be charged $1000 linking to information about themselves.

Business sites however are not in the clear, and one is currently fighting “the just cause” for the rest of internet users, but is having their plight ignored.

Paul O’Flahery recently wrote:-

The court case between Gauguin (an auctioneer house) and Krak.dk is now well underway and I’m eagerly awaiting the outcome of this. The case is getting good coverage in the Danish blogosphere (just check out Overskrift), and well it should as the outcome of this case could affect us all.

Unfortunately this hasn’t been picked up by any major Search Engine news site, or A – List Blogger.

The consequences of Krak winning this court battle, and maybe for the ruling to have a knock on effect across Europe are extremely serious, and could damage the way the internet works.

Websites would again become insular, not linking where credit is due simply because noone has time to search for hidden terms and conditions requiring you to pay $1000 just to link to a page.

I did my own analysis of all the links currently going to Krak.dk internal pages – their sugar trap will possibly net them $6m if they win.

Here is the current statement of the rules from Krak AFTER all the coverage from the last 2 weeks.

Official Krak answer:
Every blogger in the world is welcome to use deep links to Krak maps for free. But please ask us.
When it comes to commercial use, Krak has the same policy as Google and others. You cannot use our copyrighted maps without asking.
Krak alone decides whether the use is commercial or not.
In the actual case, the site by nature looks like a blog, but may in fact be a business, so we decided he had to pay.
If we were wrong, and if the blogger in question in fact is not selling anything (no animals or accessories), we will reconsider.

Best regards,

Poul Moeller
Kraks Forlag A/S

• This is more serious than a small tweak to a search engine’s algorithm
• A change in the terms for Google Adsense is insignificant compared
• The latest start-up from “Demo” is inconsequential
• Hell this is bigger news than Robert Scoble talking at a new PayPerPost gig (and for the record I respect Robert for doing so, and for his disclosure)
• And for search, no matter how important people might think Wikipedia is, I guarantee the ability to freely link to any web page is of much higher consequence.
• I am not sure how this compares with Britney Spears or Paris Hilton up the skirt pics, but imagine you couldn’t link to the site that just listed them?
• I am not sure how this compares in importance for global warming – hell if people couldn’t link to each other, maybe the internet would become less attractive, and we would all plant more trees.
• Windows Vista? Well you can always read an opinion on Paul’s blog about how his better half liked it (a non-geek)

Maybe I should spend the next hour checking every page of Paul’s blog in Denmark just in case he has a hidden charge for linking to his. I don’t have to do that because he is a normal sane person running a normal legitimate business and doesn’t need to trap people into paying him money.

Seriously, this story need some main-stream international press coverage.

It is “down to earth” rather than full of hype (as you would expect from an Irishman), and my first impressions of it are very good (and that is not because I got a mention in the first episode).

Paul concentrates on key issues such as a followup to the krak.dk scandal, and also discussing linking and A-list bloggers.

It is actually ironic that while Robert Scoble was making a big issue about other A-lists not linking to him in regards the Intel chip news, Paul has a very hard time gaining a-list coverage of the Krak deep linking issue, despite it making the front page of Digg.

The Krak.dk scandal is actually a bigger news story than Intel’s new chips. What Krak are doing threatens the integrity of the the internet and the way linking on the internet might be abused by larger websites who offer great linkbait, and then charge you for linking to them a few years later.

There is increasing talk about Google in negative tones as they increase in power, and with people’s increasing dependence on Google service, and in the case of webmasters, traffic from Google and income from Google Adsense.

So now a small Danish website, Krak.dk is trying to destroy their reputation, and attacking bloggers. Well small in the global scheme of things, probably quite large in their Danish niche.

For the full story, Paul has a great write up about this Deep Linking Fine a company is charging.

Note, they didn’t deep link to a picture, they linked to a page with lots of advertising on it, giving both traffic and link equity.
Note that they have no mention of their insane deep linking policy on the pages themselves, only in their help files.

That is what gives them a PR7, all that linking and trust.

Lets examine their external linking a little

First of all links to their domain at root level

Now lets look at their total links to the domain including deep links

The difference (119000-41100) is 77900 deep links that could potentially be subject to paying 940 USD

I can’t calculate (quickly) how many unique domains are within those links, and obviously I don’t know if some of them have already licensed being able to link to a page – what a horrible concept.
Then again there are probably a lot more pages that have not appeared in the listing because of duplicate content or maybe there is some funny linking strategy going on.

Lets look at Google

That isn’t very many quality links, how did they get PR7? Well maybe Google is a little broken currently… who knows?

Lets do some Math

We will assume 10 links per site because I am sure some people have been stupid enough to give them a sitewide link rather than from a contact or about page.

77900/10= 7790

Let us assume 1000 paying customers currently, though I highly doubt that

7790-1000=6790

That is 6790 website owners who are just about to be hit by a deep linking tax

6790 * 940 USD = 6,382,600 USD

That is a significant though in my mind highly dubious windfall

What can/should be done?

• people deep linking should remove the links
• they should probably make a post or comment stating why they did it, without a link to Krak as they don’t deserve link equity, as you can’t trust them
• if Krak is using your personal data, you might think about asking them to remove it – it would only take a few 100 removal requests for them to make a change in policy
• give your support to a competing service instead

If they lose half of their link equity, they are going to really notice a difference

What an interesting reversal on paid link, you have to pay them 940 USD to link to them, which of course I didn’t in this post.
Whatever you do, if you write about this story, don’t link to Krak – link to Paul, the Dog site with a word such as Hunde Blog – Kennel Kaarup, and the Digg Story

This isn’t just an off-beat thing in Denmark, something like this could happen in any country. Recently there has been a big discussion regarding linking to videos that are breaking copyright.

Here we are seeing someone being charged for linking through to information stored possibly about them on a 3rd party site. Damn that is ominous.

I am not sure how long the rules on Krak have been in place and how long the site has been deep linking, but imagine LinkedIn decided to charge a $1000 fee for linking to your own LinkedIn profile. I have suggested to Paul to go delving into archive.org

Dog Lovers Digg This (a link to Pauls Story not mine)