No Links Policy

Case Type:		Fictionalized.
Exigence:		Springfield State University ("SSU") allows any faculty member, student or staff person to set up a personal website on SSU's "commweb" web server. At the request of the University's lawyers, Springfield State University ("SSU") imposes a policy that forbids links to these personal webpages from any official SSU webpage. Professor Wisdom, webmaster for the Political Affairs department, refuses to remove from the department's official webpage links to the personal webpages of undergraduates, graduate students and faculty in the department.
Audience:		You, members of the SSU community.
Possible Constraints:		SSU maintains on its official website a list of many personal webpages accompanied by a disclaimer denying responsibility for their content, very much like Northwestern's. SSU's official website includes a disclaimer stating that SSU does not review or endorse all items accessible from the official webpages, very much like Northwestern's. SSU prohibits commercial use of the commweb/personal webserver and imposes a few additional restrictions, but otherwise does not monitor personal page content, under a system of rules very much like Northwestern's. The Political Affairs departmental website has content very much like this departmental website at Northwestern. Two years previously, SSU had considered imposing a similar rule on the webserver housing student group webpages. Although that rule never took effect, student group websites were required to identify links to non-SSU sites and to include a disclaimer that they did not represent SSU, under a rule very much like Northwestern's. As with Northwestern student organizations, this rule for student groups is largely ignored. There is no public information about what the SSU lawyers are worried about, but it may be that they are concerned that SSU will be held liable for defamatory statements made on personal webpages; see the online libel webpage for more details.
Decision:		Up to you.
Related issues:		Northwestern Internet Universities
Notes:		This hasn't happened at Northwestern--yet.

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Copyright © 1998 Jean Goodwin. All rights reserved.
jeangoodwin@nwu.edu
Last updated 31 January 1998
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