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Due to the large volume of requests we receive, we do not have a reciprocal linking program. However, if you like, you may link to us at no cost. This option requires the execution by you and Fastcompany.com of a one-page Web-linking agreement. Please download and sign the agreement and fax it to , attn: G+J legal, Fastcompany.com. As soon as you receive back the agreement signed on behalf of Fastcompany.com, you may begin linking to our content.

From the agreement:

For good and valuable consideration, effective upon the duly authorized signatures of Owner and G+J below (the "Effective Date"), G+J hereby grants to Owner a non-exclusive, non-transferable, royalty-free license to create a hyperlink from the Linking Site to Inc.com from the Effective Date, unless and until such permission is terminated by G+J upon notice to Owner, subject to the following terms and conditions.

Owner hereby represents and warrants that: (i) any content displayed on the Linking Site shall not infringe upon or misappropriate any third party intellectual property or other proprietary rights, shall not invade any third party rights of privacy or publicity, shall be free from any libelous or obscene material, shall be accurate, and shall not otherwise violate any applicable law, regulation or non-proprietary third party right; (ii) the Linking Site does not and will not contain any harmful software code or viruses; (iii) Owner has duly registered the domain name of the Linking Site with all applicable authorities and possesses all rights necessary to use such domain name; and (iv) Owner shall use its best efforts, including any and all then-available technology, to prevent Internet users from downloading any content from Inc.com.

This is a completely pointless, spectacularly clueless and extraordinarily stupid policy. It is pointless because even if it was a good and meaningful policy it would be practically impossible to enforce. It is clueless because even if it was possible to enforce, it shows a lack of even the most basic understanding of how the world wide web works, as well as a lack of respect for the people who make it work. It is stupid because the company responsible for this policy would not have achieved its status as a web authority, and probably not even existed, if such policies were followed or enforced by a majority of readers and publishers. It is even more stupid, because the agreement you are expected to print out, sign and send back by fax is only available as a Microsoft Word document, which is a proprietary and unsafe format that also happens to be inefficient and unnecessary for the task at hand.

If I worked for Fast Company, I would find having to publish content under this kind of policy to be offensive and insulting. And yes, I intend to let them know how I feel.

From Boing Boing's FastCompany's terrible linking policy.

Via Tom Coates.

Update, June 29, 2004

Fast Company has amended its policy, as reported in Feedback Where You Find It. The policy now reads:

Fast Company permits links to the Fastcompany.com Web site. However, Fast Company reserves the right to withdraw permission for any link and requests that you not link for any impermissible purpose or in a manner that suggests that Fast Company promotes or endorses your Web site.

Fastcompany.com does not allow framing of its Web site content.

Cory Doctorow, who wrote the original Boing Boing post, responds in Fast Company's new linking policy still broken, suggesting that:

The Web exists because no one has the right to grant or withhold permission for links. Fast Company exists because of the Web. Accordingly, we neither grant nor deny permission to link to our site, and urge you to do the same.

I agree.

See also Linking Policies, a paper by Kevin Hall.