Removing Cookies and Ads

Bill Thayer <petworth[_at_]suba.com> wrote:
>
> The interesting thing is that recently I found one site (excellent BTW)
> that has apparently chosen to tell me that blocking their cookie is
> illegal!
>
> The main page is
>
> http://i-cias.com
>
> and the page where they seem to make the statement is
>
> http://i-cias.com/c.htm
>
> where under "@illegal" they include the "Use of browsers, or browser
> plug-ins, that remove ads, or have links to advertisers removed or
> blocked"
>
> And if that's not about cookies, it seems even more astonishing.
>

It's hard to think of a theory under which removing a cookie from your own hard drive would be illegal, though of course the page might refuse to function unless you agree to have a cookie placed there.

Regarding ad removal, I suspect there is at least a colorable copyright claim to be made here -- namely, that blocking ads creates an unlawful derivative work. The problem is that the direct "infringer" is the end user, not the person who sells blocking software, so this may turn out to be fair use under Sony (just as, I presume, fast-forwarding through commercials in a videotaped TV program is not illegal).

Mark Lemley
Assistant Professor, University of Texas School of Law Of Counsel, Fish & Richardson, P.C.
mlemley[_at_]mail.law.utexas.edu

For information on the Intellectual Property program at UT, see http://www.utexas.edu/law/intelprop/ Received on Wed May 14 1997 - 00:17:09 GMT