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It's funny. Laugh.

You May Not Link This Web Site 648

Posted by CmdrTaco from the you-can't-make-this-stuff-up dept.
Ganon34 sent us a funny story about a company requiring permission to link their website. The company in question is KPMG, a financial and legal advisory company, and the article itself is an entertaining read about the aftermath of them sending demands that someone remove a link to their public web site. It's a pretty funny piece -- especially the part about KPMG's theme song. Also references the old ticketmaster vs ticet.com case that held up deep linking. It's all funny 'cuz its true. Their page could also use some testing since it doesn't render in my browser.
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You May Not Link This Web Site More

You May Not Link This Web Site

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  • Ugly Flash (Score:4, Funny)

    by ScumBiker ( 64143 ) <scumbiker.jwenger@org> on Thursday December 06, 2001 @04:14PM (#2667136) Homepage Journal
    That is one horrible flash intro at KPMG [kpmg.com]. No wonder they want people to get permission [kpmg.com] to link [kpmg.com] to it.

  • Ooops (Score:5, Funny)

    by joebp ( 528430 ) on Thursday December 06, 2001 @04:16PM (#2667155) Homepage
    I just broke their policy [kpmg.com].

    Oops [kpmg.com] I [kpmg.com] did [kpmg.com] it [kpmg.com] again! [kpmg.com]

    Damnit! [kpmg.com]

    • Re:Ooops (Score:3, Redundant)

      by Rothfuss ( 47480 )
      Strangely, I can't contact kpmg.com [kpmg.com] right now. I wonder what could have happened to their site [kpmg.com] that would have caused it to go down?

      I wish I could read their policy page [kpmg.com] to see whether they allow themselves to be slammed simultaneously by thousands of Slashdot users, but their site [kpmg.com] doesn't seem to be working right now.

      I'll just keep trying [kpmg.com] and encourage everyone else to do the same. [kpmg.com]

    • Re:Ooops (Score:5, Funny)

      by BitchAss ( 146906 ) on Thursday December 06, 2001 @05:39PM (#2667780) Homepage
      Man. These guys are silly.

      The worst part is, I had a job interview with them earlier today.

      I think it went quite well.

  • so /. links to it? (Score:3, Redundant)

    by Lxy ( 80823 ) on Thursday December 06, 2001 @04:17PM (#2667165) Journal
    Just seemed ironic that /. linked to a site in order to break the news that a site prohibits linking to it.

    • Doh! (Score:2)

      by SaDan ( 81097 )
      They took the "HT" out of HTML.

    • Re:so /. links to it? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Cy Guy ( 56083 ) on Thursday December 06, 2001 @04:44PM (#2667427) Homepage Journal
      As did the WIRED story [wired.com].

      My question is search engines. Does KPMG expect every search engine to "execute an agreement" in order to include: [kpmg.com] results in their database and subsequently provide the results to their users?

      It seems that if, [kpmg.com] is actually intent on enforcing this policy, then they should require a userid and password to access every page, and then only provide the passwords to websites that have "executed" agreements. Personally, it looks to me like () [kpmg.com] is doing a good job of executing themeselves.

      BTW, if you would like to know more about , [kpmg.com] take a look at the excellent front page story the Washington Post did yesterday on How the Big 5 CPA Firms let their clients get away with multi-million dollar mistatements on their financial data [washingtonpost.com] resulting in masses losses for investors in those companies including many people whose pensions have been squandered. Here is what they have to say about KPMG:
      Rite Aid [amazon.com] shareholders alleged that consulting fees figured in KPMG's relationship with the drugstore chain, according to their class-action lawsuit against the accounting firm.

      Rite Aid [amazon.com] acknowledged last year that it had overstated earnings by more than $1 billion over two years. Audit fees were less than 20 percent of what Rite Aid [amazon.com] paid KPMG over a 2 1/2-year period in the late 1990s, the suit alleged.

      At one point, the suit alleged, Rite Aid's then-chairman, Martin L. Grass, awarded KPMG consulting engagements worth more than $1.5 million "as a sweetener and to ensure the accounting firm's continued cooperation."

      An attorney for Grass said the allegations were "wrong" and "grossly unfair." KPMG was given a contract to address weaknesses in Rite Aid's [amazon.com] inventory-tracking system, not to ensure cooperation, lawyer Andrew Weissman said.

      KPMG said that it was "victimized by company management" and that the consulting it did for Rite Aid [amazon.com] was "insignificant to the overall professional relationship."
    • . . . that slashdot's been trolled . . .


      THink about it. It you want massive hits to your website, can you think of any better way than to get slashdot to say you forbid links--with the inevitable "defiant" link? . . .


      hawk

  • jez (Score:4, Insightful)

    by British ( 51765 ) <british1500@gmail.com> on Thursday December 06, 2001 @04:18PM (#2667171) Homepage Journal
    If they don't want people linking to their website, just block all referrers. Mind you, it might be a bit difficult to get to their website, but rules are rules!

  • Freedom of the Press (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Renraku ( 518261 ) on Thursday December 06, 2001 @04:19PM (#2667173) Homepage
    Wouldn't this be like hindering freedom of the press or something? That's like saying, "If you use our name in daily conversation, we'll sue you." Its almost as bad as companies trying to sue people because they give their products a bad review.

    • Re:Freedom of the Press (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Soko ( 17987 ) on Thursday December 06, 2001 @04:32PM (#2667294) Homepage
      Errr... you seem to have hit upon an interesting conumdrum - is this like limiting freedom of the press or limiting free speech? I'm not sure if the two are actually separate or inexorably linked, but there is a difference.

      When you publish a web page, should you be able to say that you are a member of the "Press" and afforded the same privileges, or do you get just plain old free speech rights (such as they are)?

      Probrably not an earth shaking issue, but it may make any legal arguments interesting...

      Soko

  • Big deal..its a request (Score:5, Insightful)

    by CMiYC ( 6473 ) on Thursday December 06, 2001 @04:20PM (#2667185) Homepage
    Okay... so here's what I don't get... the company's policy clearly says "KPMG is obligated to protect its reputation and trademarks and KPMG reserves the right to request removal of any link to our website."

    So what do they think? EVERYONE that they request to remove a link is going too. If they want to try to use this stupid policy to "enforce" something (what, I'm still not quite sure) then at least word it properly. In the form of "we request the right to force you to remove a link to our site." Not that either policy actually means anything.

    I reserve the right to request you to remove any silver type jewerly while visitng my website.

    • Re:Big deal..its a request (Score:5, Insightful)

      by D_Gr8_BoB ( 136268 ) on Thursday December 06, 2001 @05:21PM (#2667693)
      Here's a link [kpmg.com] to their actual disclaimer page. By posting this, I'm violating both their "no linking without permission" policy and their "no links that bypass the homepage" policy.

      If they really cared, couldn't they just block all pages but their index for all browsers who don't send a referer header indicating they came from another page on their site? If you're going to make up stupid rules, you might as well enforce them when it's that easy to do.

  • I also demand (Score:4, Redundant)

    by ch-chuck ( 9622 ) on Thursday December 06, 2001 @04:20PM (#2667187) Homepage
    that you ask permission before sending email to my inbox - or I'll sue!
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • Suprise, suprise (Score:4, Informative)

    by niola ( 74324 ) <jon@niola.net> on Thursday December 06, 2001 @04:22PM (#2667196) Homepage
    What do you expect from a company that hires people based on GPA and status of college? All of the major consulting companies, Bain, McKinsey, PWC, et al, they won't even interview you if your SAT scores, GPA, and College aren't "top notch." It is pretty sad, as if this is really a measurement of ability. These companies don't like anyone to be individual or think outside the box and it shows in their draconian policies.

    --Jon
    • Several friends that are undergrads are going through recruiting. Because of the economy, the recruiting levels are lower. They were worried that if they took an "inferior" job, they couldn't recruit their next year.

      Apparently the consulting firms only want to hire people that fit in a small pigeonhole. They want you to pay them boatloads of money to be advised by people that were chosen because:
      1) They had no useful knowledge/experience
      2) They fit a small description, people that focused on grades at the expense of everything else

      I don't know, but if I was the 55 year old CEO of a company looking to hire consultants, I wouldn't want to be spending $1500/day for some kid straight out of school that has never done anything...

      Alex
    • I suspect they've learnt that the probability of getting a decent person from the pool of people with good GPA and college is much higher than the pool of people without a good GPA or college.

      This also probably ensures that all the people who work for them are fairly smart and well educated which is exactly the impression they wish to put over.

      As a Cambridge University graduate [UK] I've discovered that whilst there are many people who are smart who didn't go to university, the density of smart people is much higher at a good university and consequently is one of the first places I'd look if I wanted to employ smart people.

  • I Call Troll (Score:3, Insightful)

    by puckhead ( 241973 ) on Thursday December 06, 2001 @04:22PM (#2667199) Homepage Journal
    This is a brilliant bit of viral marketing. Never heard of them 3 days ago and now they've been on FCompany [fuckedcompany.com] and Slashdot. They are number 2 on the blogdex [mit.edu].

  • Opinion Piece (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Tackhead ( 54550 ) on Thursday December 06, 2001 @04:22PM (#2667205)
    Boy, is KPMG [kmpg.com]'s theme song lame.

    If my boss gave me the choice between singing that song and sodomizing myself with a baseball bat dipped in a paste of ground glass and 5-minute epoxy, I'd ask him for a map to the nearest Home Depot.

    • To me, it sounds more like a lame telephone loop that companies use to torture people on hold. (A friend of mine composes non-lethal telephone songs. Contact me if your company needs better phone loop music.)

      So, does anybody know where this song originated?

      Is this just a telephone "hold the line" theme or are KPMG employees required to sing a long to this piece every morning?

    • At the recording studio ... (Score:5, Funny)

      by pyramid termite ( 458232 ) on Thursday December 06, 2001 @04:39PM (#2667368)
      KPMG Morale and Puffery Manager - Alright, guys, that sounds really positive and great, we'll send you the check in the mail.

      (leaves, whistling that godawful song)

      Producer - Man, I'm glad that's over.

      Studio musicians - Yeah, man. Dig it. Lame gig.

      Studio owner - I've been listening to these backwards ...

      Producer - Well, I ...

      Studio owner - You've got Price Waterhouse's human resources department's number backward masked on the first verse. I hope they don't find out ...

      Producer - I couldn't resist. Hours and hours of listening to that damn song! I'm only human, damn it!
      • Not just badly written (sounds like an attempt at a Journey-style power ballad, without the power) but horribly mixed.

        Producer - Mabye if we mix this underwater it'll inspire the drones to swim for their lives.

        Studio owner - I find that these magic healing magnets make audio-tape more inspirational!

        KPMG Morale and Puffery Manager (in bathtub) - This is powerful stuff, that new-agey sound will keep the lemmings from revolting over this year's pay-cuts...

        Lemmings on hold - Must...eat...brains...
    • Does anyone have the full lyrics to this turkey?
    • It may be just me, but I think I have discovered what April Wine is doing these days.

  • A clever ploy, KPMG (Score:4, Redundant)

    by Corgha ( 60478 ) on Thursday December 06, 2001 @04:24PM (#2667219)
    Clearly this is just a clever ploy to get tons of people to link to them. Look how many people have taken the bait so far!

    If Current Trends Continue(tm), it's only a matter of time before they're at the top of the results for every google search.

  • Reverse Psychology? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by GreyyGuy ( 91753 ) on Thursday December 06, 2001 @04:25PM (#2667227)
    I read this earlier today in Wired and had to wonder if this wasn't all a means of advertising through reverse psychology. Tell some geeks they can't do something that obviously anyone can do and they will do exactly the opposite.

    And in the process this company gets a huge number of free links from just about everywhere. How many companies would not like to have their website linked everywhere?

  • What's the cost? (Score:2, Redundant)

    by Rogerborg ( 306625 )
    Are KPMG [kpmg.com] saying that if a site other than the KPMG [kpmg.com] site links to KPMG [kpmg.com] then KPMG [kpmg.com] might sue them? I wonder how much KPMG [kpmg.com] would demand for each infringing link to KPMG [kpmg.com] from a non-KPMG [kpmg.com] site to the KPMG [kpmg.com] web site at http://www.kpmg.com [kpmg.com]?
  • JesusGeeks [jesusgeeks.net] has this hours ago! :)

    KPMG [kpmg.com] doesn't want us to link to KPMG [kpmg.com]? That seems absurd! What if I want to link to KPMG [kpmg.com]? I should be able to link to KPMG [kpmg.com] if I want to! In fact, I will make use of that privelige right now!
    KPMG [kpmg.com]
    KPMG [kpmg.com]
    KPMG [kpmg.com]
    KPMG [kpmg.com]
    KPMG [kpmg.com]
    KPMG [kpmg.com]
    KPMG [kpmg.com]

  • Here's the problem (from the source code):

    (c) 2000, Razorfish, Inc. all rights reserved.

    Learn to write HTML you losers!!!

  • Every time I hear "KPMG" I think it must be a radio station.

  • I'm trying to remember from when I last listened to it: here goes anyway:-

    We're KPMG, We're strong as can be
    Something, Something
    And our visions of global strategy...

    Anyone know all the words? (I don't have the mp3 here right now)

    • Read the fine article.

      It goes -- sing along, now -- "KPMG/We're strong as can be/A dream of power and energy/We go for the goal/Together we hold/On to our vision of global strategy..."

    • Re:Lyrics (Score:4, Informative)

      by dumpster_d ( 536427 ) on Thursday December 06, 2001 @06:20PM (#2668043)
      This was painful to transcribe: mostly because I'm at work and trying to not burst out laughing:

      KPMG:
      We're strong as can be
      A dream of power and energy
      We go for the goal
      Together we hold on to
      Our vision of global strategy

      We create
      We elevate
      We pass the ones that are la-ey-ate
      A global shield
      This is our dream of success
      That we create

      We'll be number one
      #Whenever that comes?# [hard to make out]
      Together each of us will run for gold
      That shines like the sun in our eyes

      Chorus [1st stanza]

      The time is now
      To lead the way
      We share the same idea that may
      Win by the end of the day
      A friend that's here to stay

      Identity
      One energy
      One strategy
      With sypathy
      These are the words
      That can lead us to a new world

      Chorus
      Chorus
      key-changed chorus
      key-changed chorus a'la Gospel

  • Thought experiments (Score:4, Funny)

    by geophile ( 16995 ) <(jao) (at) (geophile.com)> on Thursday December 06, 2001 @04:29PM (#2667264) Homepage
    Thought experiments for my web hypothetical kpmgsucks.com web site (someone owns it already):

    - A link to KPMG that displays only if you're coming in from a kpmg.com [kpmg.com] (oops!) address. (I'd love to hear the conversation between KPMG and its outside corporate counsel on that one.)

    - A link to KPMG that shows up on 0.1% of all page views, randomly.

    - A GIF that looks like a blue, underlined link to kpmg.com [kpmg.com] (oops!)
  • I find it remarkable that anyone would want to link to the front page of KPMG [kpmg.com], given an opportunity not to. :-)

    The site renders extremely badly on Galeon... (And it's about as bad with Netscape 4.7 and Konqueror, albeit in different ways...)

    Maybe they want nobody to link to it so that nobody knows that it's there?

  • I wonder... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by BarefootClown ( 267581 ) on Thursday December 06, 2001 @04:30PM (#2667275) Homepage

    if they have written agreements with Google, Altavista, and the other search engines. If not, perhaps their name should be removed from the engine.

    Same with the phone books...

  • Slippery Slope (Score:3, Insightful)

    by tiltowait ( 306189 ) on Thursday December 06, 2001 @04:33PM (#2667305) Homepage Journal

    This will not be a laughing matter in five years. The 2600 DeCSS linking case ruled it is illegal to even link to illegal sites. It's only a matter of time before KPMG's attitudes become de facto.

    [begin obligatory slashdot rant] This is truly a bizarre turn of evens as this ruling raises some fundamental questions about intellectual property rights and free speech on the Internet. You would think it is legal to link to a page against the author's permission. You would also think the likes of Madonna and Julia Roberts couldn't steal registered domains containing their names. All of these have been called into doubt as we descend down this slippery slope.

    The corporate chokehold on individual freedoms needs greater vigilance. If you asked someone twenty years ago what they thought of random drug testing, stealth eavesdropping techniques, etc., you would probably get a much more appalled response than you would today. What are we in danger of not being appalled about twenty years from now?

    More sites [dmoz.org] on this topic, esp. 46-49 of this ruling [uscourts.gov].

  • The letter and response are here [raettig.org].

    The full story is here [raettig.org].

    HTH
    marty
  • Do they have DeCSS source code on their front page or something? They should embed some of it in their metatags; then if the pesky other parties refuse to cease and desist their nefarious linking ways, they can just have law enforcement step in and take care of business.
  • If this were a small little startup company, I would be the first to say that it's a wonderful little advertising trick.

    But this is one of the largest accounting/consulting firms in the world. They don't need tricks like this to advertise. The negative press they're going to get off of it is much worse because it discredits them. Despite this stupid move, KPMG is actually very reputable and is great company to work for.

    Advertising and quality of company issues aside, I'm trying to determine whether which is funnier, this request about links or the silly legal statement they append to every e-mail sent from kpmg mail servers:

    The information in this email is confidential and may be legally privileged. It is intended solely for the addressee. Access to this email by anyone else is unauthorized.

    If you are not the intended recipient, any disclosure, copying, distribution or any action taken or omitted to be taken in reliance on it, is prohibited and may be unlawful. When addressed to our clients any opinions or advice contained in this email are subject to the terms and conditions expressed in the governing KPMG client engagement letter.

  • Site Builders (Score:2, Informative)

    by stylewagon ( 197083 )

    Here's a link to the company that built the site [blenderbox.com] for Razorfish.

    *link via camworld

  • Illegal hyperlink (Score:3, Funny)

    by aozilla ( 133143 ) on Thursday December 06, 2001 @04:39PM (#2667366) Homepage
    I wonder if http://www.kpmg.com/?#define%20m(i)(x[i]^s[i+84])y )c+=y=i^i/8^i>>4^i>>12,i=i>>8^y& gt;14,y=a^a*8^a>8^y/n."[k>>4]*2^k*257/8,s [j]=k^(k&k*2&34)*6^c+~y;}} would be an illegal hyperlink... Yep, that's DeCSS...

  • I wonder (Score:3, Funny)

    by Rosco P. Coltrane ( 209368 ) on Thursday December 06, 2001 @04:39PM (#2667370)
    are they going to go after google [google.com] ?

    I bet they even submitted the link themselves ...

  • "We easily sent hundreds of these letters over the past year," he said. Indeed, he wondered why this was considered newsworthy at all, as "many organizations do this."

    And many organizations are freaking retarded too.

    <cluestick>
    Hello! When people link to you its like free advertising... hmmm maybe if we allow people to link to our site they might actually find it.
    </cluestick>

    What are they going to do now? Sue Google? Or /.? Or me? Whatever. [kpmg.com] so there! [kpmg.com], and there! [kpmg.com], and there! [kpmg.com]

    (That was very therapetic)

  • Yep, and it gets worse (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Slur ( 61510 )
    I have a friend who used to work for the same company as myself. He had links to their web-site and to the sites of clients for whom he had done stellar design work as part of his online resume. The company demanded that he remove these links.

    Why? Ostensibly because "too many hits are coming from your page, buddy!" But perhaps it's really because his personal page advocates veganism, or perhaps because he's a photographer who had done some same-sex weddings. Who knows?

    The point is, telling people not to link to your site is just plain stupid and unreasonable, and frankly borders on unethical. May they drown in their stupid-karma!
  • Haha! You've got to listen to that theme song. It reminds me of the Miss America theme song. hahahaha

  • IANAL but... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by sheetsda ( 230887 ) <doug...sheets@@@gmail...com> on Thursday December 06, 2001 @04:43PM (#2667404)
    please be aware such links require that a formal Agreement exist between our two parties, as mandated by our organization's Web Link Policy."

    So its their policy, so what? It's not a contract, what binds anyone to abide by it? They can't do anything about it if he links to them, not to mention the free speech implications. This was just a lame attempt to shut off some bad press and ironically they're getting tons of attention for doing it. Perhaps that affect is the intention.

  • I was about to edit my home page to put in a link to them (saucy me!) when I got a phone call.

    "Don't even think about it," said a sinister voice.

    "Who is this?" I asked, frightened.

    "Never mind," said the man. "Just think of how it would be a shame to find some management consultants in your cubicle when you show up at work tomorrow, shaking their heads sadly and holding out a cardboard box with your possessions."

  • After listening to that ridiculous POS (and wondering how much shareholder money was dumped into that crud) I decided to do my part and put the MP3 in my Morpheus Shared Folder. Enjoy! (And take that, KPMG! "KPMG/We're strong as can be/A dream of power and energy/We go for the goal/Together we hold/On to our vision of global strategy..." Yuck!)
  • Looks like they went down. Heh. I wonder what they are going to tell their clients about scalability and load balancing now :)

    -Jeff
  • And sat at a desk across from the guy who did their first website! Hehehhehe... That's amusing as all get out. They invested in Florida Internet Corporation, and we handled all of their internet needs early on (1995ish). They wanted to have every TLD for themselves, including all the country codes and .edu and such. It took forever to convince them that that wasn't possible in many cases. The son of the (owner, CEO?), visited all the time, and went to strip clubs every night (The Landing Strip was a favorite, I remember), and rode his motorcycle all over town. I can easily see them doing this.

    Pure arrogance.

    --
    Evan

  • "Their page could also use some testing since it doesn't render in my browser."


    Hey Taco, I hope you followed Linus's example and filed a bug report with KDE.

  • IANAL, but a good article is

    Emerging Legal Guidance on 'Deep Linking' By Margaret Smith Kubiszyn [gigalaw.com]

    "Once again, Ticketmaster took the lead toward resolution of the deep-linking issues by filing suit against Tickets.com in July 1999. Tickets.com could be characterized as a competitor of Ticketmaster, acting as a clearinghouse for tickets, linking to sources for tickets to events (including links to Ticketmaster), auction services and premium ticket brokers. Ticketmaster alleged that, in addition to deep linking into Ticketmaster's site, Tickets.com copied material from the Ticketmaster site and posted false information about the availability of tickets from Ticketmaster."

    ...

    "On March 27, 2000, U.S. Judge District Judge Harry Hupp issued a ruling dismissing four counts of Ticketmaster's complaint, including some counts involving deep linking. In dismissing the first claim, which alleged copyright infringement, Judge Hupp stated: "[H]yperlinking does not itself involve a violation of the Copyright Act (whatever it may do for other claims) since no copying is involved. The customer is automatically transferred to the particular genuine web page of the original author. There is no deception in what is happening. This is analogous to using a library's card index to get reference to particular items, albeit faster and more efficiently."

    Sig: What Happened To The Censorware Project (censorware.org) [sethf.com]

  • Here is the policy section from their disclaimer [kpmg.com] page.
    ...
    The following web link activities are explicitly prohibited by KPMG and may present trademark and copyright infringement issues:
    Links that involve unauthorized use of our logo
    Framing, inline links or metatags
    Hyperlinks or a form of link that disguises the URL and bypass the homepage
    ...

  • FuckedCompany.com (Score:2, Informative)

    by chuckw ( 15728 )
    This was also reported [fuckedcompany.com] on FuckedCompany a few days ago. An interesting discussion went along with it.

  • So what's the problem? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Restil ( 31903 ) on Thursday December 06, 2001 @04:56PM (#2667516) Homepage
    Don't want people linking to your site? Fine. Then don't let them. When the webserver gets an HTTP GET request, check the referrer address. If its not coming from a "proper" link, then simply refuse to serve the page. No need to fuss about improper links. They simply won't work. And you'll be MORE than capable of keeping all those potential customers OFF your website. Who really wants customers anyways? All they do is provide you with more work to do. :)

    -Restil

  • KPMG theme (Score:3, Interesting)

    by kilgore_47 ( 262118 ) <kilgore_47 AT yahoo DOT com> on Thursday December 06, 2001 @04:59PM (#2667541) Homepage Journal
    As the articles points out, KPMG has only gotten themselves into this embarrassing situation because they were unhappy about people making fun of another embarrassing situation: The KPMG Theme Song! It explains their power, strength, and global strategy (which must include really bad music).

    (heres the akamai link to the mp3 [akamai.net])

  • KPMG/KPMG Consulting craziness (Score:5, Informative)

    by ZahrGnosis ( 66741 ) on Thursday December 06, 2001 @05:16PM (#2667663) Homepage
    I work at KPMG Consulting; there really is a bizarre lifestyle here. I do LOVE the theme song. It was available on one of our international intranet sites; one of the more hip netherlandic teams had it commissioned as part of their morale-building exercises.

    It worked, actually; everyone in the company has laughed about that for the past year. I guess it was only a matter of time before we got publicly ridiculed because of it. I wonder if it was leaked for publicity? Hmmmmm...

  • LMAO, The Slashdot Effect! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Tokerat ( 150341 ) on Thursday December 06, 2001 @05:29PM (#2667738) Journal
    /.ed! /.ed! /.ed!

    KPMG: Please do not link to our website.

    HAH! I wonder if CmdrTaco is going to recieve a cease & desist letter? Watch yo bad self, Rob!
    Seriously, the irony here is just to much. How does it affect them in any way except more traffic for their site == more exposure + more banner ad revenue. And unless someone is using KPMG's equipment to host that link, they don't have to agree to jack shit. I propose a new theme song:

    K-P-M-G!
    We're out of touch with reality!
    We have a website we don't want you to see.
    If you link to us we're gonna break your knees!
    It's all a part of our global stradegy...

  • Slashdot Theme Song! (Score:3, Interesting)

    by AwwShazbot ( 541649 ) on Thursday December 06, 2001 @05:39PM (#2667778)
    Hey, whats the Slashdot theme song?

  • According to Google... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by thebabelfish ( 213456 ) on Thursday December 06, 2001 @05:46PM (#2667821) Homepage

    ...there are 2,800 sites [google.com] that link to www.kpmg.com [kpmg.com].

    Jeez. That's a lot of contracts...

  • KPMG - the remixes! (Score:5, Funny)

    by cascino ( 454769 ) on Thursday December 06, 2001 @05:49PM (#2667850) Homepage
    Better yet, KPMG theme song remixes!
    the jungle remix [phrenetic.org]
    the hard-rock remix [dolanbrau.com]
    There's also a teutonic remix out there somewhere, somebody want to provide a link?

  • How many other's have this same policy?!?!? (Score:4, Informative)

    by Papyrus ( 226791 ) on Thursday December 06, 2001 @06:30PM (#2668089)

    My employer's Head WebMaster recently released the newly revised web policy manual that all of the various department webmonkeys have to abide by.

    In that manual under the section titled "Linking Policy" is this paragraph:

    Links may be made to the City of Virginia Beach Web site with the express written (hard copy or email) permission of the City Webmaster. Persons wishing to link to the City Web site may contact the City Webmaster for permission and linking procedures. When permission is received to link to the City's Web site, all hypertext links should be pointed to the City's homepage, http://VBgov.com.

    I haven't yet inquired as to exactly what the intent of such an absurd statement is or how that would be enforced or how the world at large would even be aware of a policy that is (AFAIK)only referenced in a purely internal document posted on our intranet.

    Just how many companies have such silly policies?

    Perhaps I'll start "linkriot.com" whose sole purpose is to collect the URL's of and link to the sites of such misguided entities.

  • Lynx renders it just fine (Score:4, Interesting)

    by kindbud ( 90044 ) on Thursday December 06, 2001 @07:37PM (#2668403) Homepage

    lynx -useragent='Mozilla/4.0 (lynx; faked; hahahaha)' http://www.kpmg.com/


    After accepting or rejecting the five cookies they offer (one for the initial connection, one for having seen the flash, one for a session id, and some others for who knows what), the page appears, and looks like it was written especially for Lynx! All the images have alt tags, the text formats nicely, it's easy to read..

    So now what was all that .asp redirection/browser-detection/eat-my-cookie BS for in the first place? When it comes down to it, they have a perfectly useable and readable site if they'd just dump all the fancy crap (which Lynx does for you quite nicely).

  • How it renders in Mozilla (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Tony Shepps ( 333 ) on Thursday December 06, 2001 @08:25PM (#2668587)
    If you're an IE user and want to see how other browsers manage kpmg.com:

    How kpmg.com renders in Mozilla [cellar.org]

  • They can enforce their policy (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Skapare ( 16644 ) on Thursday December 06, 2001 @08:46PM (#2668654) Homepage

    If KPMG [kpmg.com] can enforce their policy [kpmg.com] easily enough by simply not delivering content when the HTTP request comes in asking for their site [kpmg.com]. They [kpmg.com] say they are "e-business savvy", so they [kpmg.com] should have no trouble setting this up in just a few minutes.

    The web is about linking. That's why they call it "The Web". If KPMG [kpmg.com] doesn't want to join in, then they [kpmg.com] should just stay out. And there are many ways to do that, including still having a site [kpmg.com] served by HTTP to send content to whoever types their name [kpmg.com] in manually, or links [kpmg.com] from sites they [kpmg.com] approve [kpmg.com] of. They [kpmg.com] should just do it and prove their competence in running their site [kpmg.com] their way [kpmg.com].

    But why the hell would I want to link to their site [kpmg.com] anyway. It sucks! The whole damn thing is a morass of lame Javascript. They [kpmg.com] can't even put plain HTML in and have to have Javascript generate it. It's clear to me that they [kpmg.com] don't know how to do things on the server side.

  • Reminds me of Spinal Tap... (Score:3, Funny)

    by swordgeek ( 112599 ) on Thursday December 06, 2001 @09:23PM (#2668766) Journal
    "And this one (guitar) I've never played. See--it's still got the tags on it"
    "Wow, that's something..."
    "Don't touch it!"
    "I wasn't going to touch it."
    "Well don't touch it. Nobody must touch this guitar. In fact, don't even look at it. Turn around."

    Sorry. Flashbacks.

  • Did he even violate KPMG's policy? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by frantzdb ( 22281 ) on Thursday December 06, 2001 @09:26PM (#2668774) Homepage
    According to KPMG's disclaimer page [kpmg.com]:
    Third Party Links are provided as a convenience to our users. KPMG does not control and is not responsible for any of these sites or their content. KPMG is obligated to protect its reputation and trademarks and KPMG reserves the right to
    request [emphasis mine] removal of any link to our website.

    Explicit permission is required to use the KPMG logo. To request this written approval, contact the Webmaster or send an e-mail under "Contact Us." The following web link activities are explicitly prohibited by KPMG and may present trademark and copyright infringement issues:

    • Links that involve unauthorized use of our logo
    • Framing, inline links or metatags
    • Hyperlinks or a form of link that disguises the URL and bypass the homepage
    It sounds like harassing this guy with lawyers is beyond what they say they'll do.

    Silly company.

    --Ben

  • Their disclaimer and Robots.txt (Score:3, Funny)

    by Alsee ( 515537 ) on Friday December 07, 2001 @02:09AM (#2669568) Homepage
    Their disclaimer http://www.kpmg.com/disclaimer.html [kpmg.com] says "Based on the fundamental universal condition of the electronic communication process, KPMG does not guarantee or warrant the Site will be uninterrupted". Can anyone say /. effect?

    I really love their http://www.kpmg.com/robots.txt [kpmg.com]. it says:
    # everyone go away
    User-agent: *
    Disallow: /

    -

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