<B>I was under the impression that there were a number of lawsuits where companies tried to control how other compainies link to their websites and all were rejected. Sort of like making some big painting on your house and getting pissed off if someone takes a picture for a magazine. In otherwords, when it is placed on a website, that is the same as placing it in public. Mr_Oily only placing a link to the guys page which is automatcally replicated on this machine -- not the same as if he copied the image and placed it in his webserver, which would, in fact, be copyright infringement. Am I completely wrong, or offbase, or did they change something while I wasn't looking?</B> This isn't true. The lawsuits, if I remember correctly, involved linking to specific pages. For example, ESPN couldn't prevent me from putting a link to their site on my site, or linking to any subpage on their site (for example, a specific story). However, linking to specific images a different matter entirely and involves stealing both bandwidth and protected material (depending on the image). As for the specifics, lots of people do what this individual did. You police it from the start as soon as you get unauthorized hits on the machine. He has no clue how trafficed this BBS is or when the usage will explode. At that point, he will be screwed and have to pay for the bandwidth consumed. If he's on a limited bandwidth contract, his site might be simply made inaccessible to future users (saying "this account has exceeded its bandwidth limitation"). If it's a small site (I haven't looked) this would be a real concern even if the number of hits is relatively minor. Just FYI...
If for no other reason, let's try to drop this just in case it gets somebody like crispee or Clutch in trouble. The cost is not in the winning or losing, it's also in the fight. I'm sure neither of them want to be involved in any of this crap as they have other things to worry about. It's not that big a deal until you make it a big deal. Show some respect to people that run this site if you can't to other sites. ... now if Clutch says it's cool, that's another story...
