I just finished reading Jeff Jarvis’ “What Would Google Do?” and have been wondering how, exactly, to blog about it. My utility company has answered that question.
Baltimore Gas and Electric Co., which provides me with — you guessed it — gas and electricity, has created a very, very odd “linking policy.”
It states:
If you are interested in linking to our Web site, you must first notify us by sending notice to our Webmaster per the contact information below. You must include your name, organization name, contact information (including phone number and e-mail address), URL of your site, and a list of any URLs from which you want to link to our Web site.
It goes on to give some guidelines:
1. You must link to the home page only. Links to other pages on our Web site are prohibited.
2. Links must only be text-based using the words “Constellation Energy” and “www.constellationenergy.com”, or “Baltimore Gas and Electric Company” and “www.bge.com”. You may not use these words, or any of our logos or other marks as a link or in any other way. By linking, you acknowledge and agree that all rights to these words and marks, including but not limited to all content appearing on our Web site and the design of our Web site, belong solely to us.
…
7. We may at any time, in our sole discretion, without cause, terminate your right to link to any pages on our Web site. In such event upon request, you agree to immediately remove all links to our Web site and to cease using any of our marks.
And finally!
8. We reserve the right to change this linking policy at any time, so it is your responsibility to periodically review this page for any changes.
Not only does this go against core tenets of the Web, which Jarvis lays out and clarifies in his boo — openness of information and sourcing details, creating depth and context via links, and a spirit of trust and sharing — it’s also entirely unenforceable.
And offensive.
And hilarious!
Excuse me while I link, link, link, link, link, link, link, link, link. And link to the policy again.
I don’t usually say please reblog, but do so at your will, or at least draw your own links to BGE’s site (and not just the homepage, per useage rule No. 1).
(It occurs to me at the end of writing this post that maybe this is what BGE wants — attention and a bunch of links directing you to them. … Nah.)
