[OS:N:] [OT]: is deep linking illegal?

Not directly related to Open Source, but judging from past discussions
here I'm sure that some member will have pointers, and several others
will be interested anyway.

Deep linking is pointing straight to a web page instead of the
corresponding home page. As in writing, in my weblog or full blown
online magazine/portal:

3)       XYZ has an interesting article on topic foo, read it at
       http://www.xyz.com/articles/article_about_foo.html

instead of:

2)     XYZ has an interesting article on topic foo, go to
       http://www.xyz.com/ and search for that story from there

I have just read in an italian newsgroup that in USA only method 2)
would be legal now, on the ground that method 1) would damage XYZ by
diminishing banner hits, and violate their branding, corporate image,
intellectual property rights, and so on. Because it shortcuts the path
from the home page, hence giving of XYZ a view/user experience
different from what they want to convey.

This seems really absurd to me (**): apart from obvious issues of
common sense, internet useability, freedom of speech and so on (so we
are at least partially on topic here) I don't see how Google or any
other search engine could survive in that scenario. Or how anybody
could quickly ever find anything online for that matter.

May I ask to all list members, be they USA citizens or not, how things
actually are in their country?

Whatever the situation is, I would like to answer providing official
online resources saying "Law in this country says so and so" or "there
is no law whatsoever about this yet"

TIA,
	Marco Fioretti

(**) the only possible meaningful exception being, as I see it,
framing: if I put http://www.xyz.com/articles/article_about_foo.html
in a frame of www.mysite.com/news/ then it does steal banners, confuse
readers, and give the impression that I am the author.

-- 
Marco Fioretti                 m.fioretti, at the server inwind.it
Red Hat for low memory         http://www.rule-project.org/en/

People often find it easier to be a result of the past than a cause of
the future.


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