Re: back door

Okay,

I've been keeping quiet on this whole "Back Door" thing, but feel the time
has come for me to put my 2c worth in.

BACK DOORS are obviously a tricky thing. But it all depends on what they are
a "back door" to and how they are used. There seems to be some misconception
as to exactly what constitutes a BACK DOOR or DEEP LINKING to a site. If a
site has pertinent data with NO requirements to get to that data (such as
registration), then I see no problem with linking however deep as necessary
to get to that data. But if this data is something that requires
registration to get to, or a subscription, or whatever, then it is
definitely not right to link directly to that page for any reason.

Example:
http://www.winfiles.com/apps/98/
This can technically be considered a "Deep Link" or "Back Door" as it goes
DIRECTLY to the Windows98 files on WinFiles.com, bypassing the normal entry
page which would require two or three clicks to get to the data. I see no
problem linking directly to this as this site does not require someone to be
registered or to pay for this service.

http://www.networksolutions.com/cgi-bin/whois/whois
This can also be a "Deep Link" or "Back Door" but again is not illegal, as
you do not have to be registered with Network Solutions to access their
WHOIS database search system.

However, http://www.inuniform.net/html4/forums.asp would be unethical to
link to as this particular page is available only to subscribers of this
service. Of course, since my company wrote this site, we also included a
checking algorhythm that would force the user to the main entry page if a
deep link such as this were attempted. There are ways to get around this,
but it's difficult and generally not worth the effort. So in effect, this
kind of link won't work. But assuming the checking code were not in place, a
deep link to this WOULD be a back door to private information, and is
unethical.

Just my views on this subject.

Kehvan M. Zydhek
Zydhek Enterprises

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