Skip to content
BOL Conferences
Thread Options
#12159 - 01/26/02 07:25 PM Weblinks
Bear Collector, CRCM Offline
Diamond Poster
Bear Collector, CRCM
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,830
District of Columbia
A great deal has been said and written about banks linking to other sites. What are the pitfalls when someone wants to link to our site? There is an accountant in our area who wants to put a link on his site to the bank's site.What are the issues, concerns, etc. concerning such a practice? What kind of controls should we have in place? Should we even allow such a thing?
Thanks,
Leslie

[This message has been edited by Leslie (edited 01-26-2002).]

_________________________
Being kind is more important than being important.

Return to Top
eBanking / Technology
#12160 - 01/26/02 09:35 PM Re: Weblinks
Richard Insley Offline
10K Club
Richard Insley
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 10,179
Toano, VA
Does he do any work for Enron?
_________________________
...gone fishing.

Return to Top
#12161 - 01/28/02 12:32 AM Re: Weblinks
Bear Collector, CRCM Offline
Diamond Poster
Bear Collector, CRCM
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,830
District of Columbia
I think he's a pretty good accountant. Maybe if he had worked for Enron they wouldn't be in so much trouble! However, I don't think he's affiliated with Arthur Anderson! Seriously, Richard, I am not tech-savvy, so how would you know (or could you tell) an entity linked to your site without your knowledge or consent? If you knew, I guess you could do some due diligence, but would you always know? What if this accountant didn't ask if it was okay, but just linked to us? What is our responsiblity? Liability?
Leslie

[This message has been edited by Leslie (edited 01-27-2002).]

_________________________
Being kind is more important than being important.

Return to Top
#12162 - 01/28/02 12:04 PM Re: Weblinks
Richard Insley Offline
10K Club
Richard Insley
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 10,179
Toano, VA
I WAS being serious. Your biggest risk with incoming links is your reputation.

If outsiders are misrepresenting the bank or pretending to be related to you to benefit from your reputation, you may want them to stop. By using low-tech search engines, you can find other sites that display:
1. your name (and former name)
2. your head office street address
3. your phone # (especially an 800 #)
4. your product names
5. the names of certain employees
6. your logo
7. other unique identifiers

When you locate these sites, decide whether you approve of the reference to your bank. If not, look up the identity of the party responsible for the other domain. That's done by entering the domain name in the form at http://www.netsol.com/cgi-bin/whois/whois Call, write or e-mail the contact person and inquire about the reference. You may discover that the other party was given permission (and may have been paid) to create the reference for promotional purposes. (Explore any advertising compliance issues raised.) If you disapprove of an unauthorized reference, contact the other party and politely request correction or deletion of the offensive content. If you're ignored, get counsel to send a letter threatening legal action.

A quick search with Alta Vista yielded the following site that is displaying your (old) identity. http://www.princegeorgescountywebsite.com/sandyspring.htm Do you know who these people are, and were they given permission to use your logo? Do you approve of the reference?

Another way to identify sources of incoming hits is to look through the user reports generated by your webserver. Most webmasters use some kind of software that summarizes the raw user log and reports user activity, including the addresses of "referrers". These reports only identify sites where there's both a link to you and a surfer has used it.

_________________________
...gone fishing.

Return to Top
#12163 - 01/28/02 02:04 PM Re: Weblinks
cboynefirstgabank Offline
100 Club
cboynefirstgabank
Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 147
brunswick ga usa
I agree with Richard on this. Your Bank's Rep. is at stake. Even if this accountant is as good as gold today, tomorrow he may tick off one of your board of directors! We do not allow personal links on our site. Having a link on your site is like giving that vendor the banks stamp of approval, that can be very risky.

Return to Top
#12164 - 01/28/02 02:46 PM Re: Weblinks
Andy_Z Offline
10K Club
Andy_Z
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 27,748
On the Net
In many search engines, Google is my favorite, you can enter “link:sitename” (without quotes) in the search field. "Sitename" would be changed for the URL you are looking for. The results are sites with links to yours. I do this twice anually on my banks sites so that I know what is out there.

If you find a link to you that is objectionable, you could ask that it be removed. I've heard of suits pending, but never the outcome, when one site sues another because there are links to it.

This is a double edged sword because you do have reputation concerns, but your ranking on many search engines is also calculated by the links other sites have to you. Eliminate those links and you may be to far down on the list of search results to matter. If search placement is a concern, be cautious.

I wrote a policy on this as it keeps our awareness level up, as to who links to us. You should also do Newsgroups searches if you want to see what is being said about you.

------------------
Andy Zavoina
Opinions stated are not necessarily that of my employer.

_________________________
AndyZ CRCM
My opinions are not necessarily my employers.
R+R-R=R+R
Rules and Regs minus Relationships equals Resentment and Rebellion. John Maxwell

Return to Top
#12165 - 01/29/02 07:36 PM Re: Weblinks
Bear Collector, CRCM Offline
Diamond Poster
Bear Collector, CRCM
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,830
District of Columbia
Andy,
I took your advice about using google to find links to my website and went on a "search and destroy" mission yesterday. What I found was pretty amazing. Almost every site is still referring to us as a National Bank, which we are no longer. I found links from sites recommending us for loans that we don't make any more, and sites claiming responsibility for our website that had nothing to do with it. Best of all, I found an architectural website who published the blueprints for a branch office we plan to build! (Needless to say, our Legal Counsel, Security Officer, and Facilities Manager are interested in that one!)
I highly encourage anyone who has an internet presence to go through this exercise.
Thanks to you and Richard for your help.
Leslie
_________________________
Being kind is more important than being important.

Return to Top
#12166 - 02/04/02 08:52 PM Re: Weblinks
Todd Taylor Offline
New Poster
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 2
Brookfield, WI
Somewhat related to this topic, here are some issues I have with linking to other sites from a bank site:

1. Make sure the site you are linking to doesn't advertise for your competitors and make sure their ads are not offensive to your clients. Some sites feature banner ads that "rotate"... you may be surprised to find that you sent a client/customer of yours to a site that has a banner ad that advertises a product that competes with yours (a mortgage with a better rate for example.) Or worse, a banner ad may display offensive material

2. If you do create a link to an external site, the FDIC requires that you "warn" the consumer that he/she is now leaving your site and that the content of the other site "is beyond your control." I typically create a JavaScript pop-up that warns a visitor they are leaving the current site.

FYI: The Federal Reserve has created a demo site called The Checker's Bank that test's your knowledge of federal consumer protection regulations and "questionable elements" that pertain to a bank website.

------------------
Sincerely,
Todd M. Taylor
Concurrency, Inc.
-Banking Service Provider

_________________________
Sincerely, Todd M. Taylor Concurrency, Inc. -Banking Service Provider

Return to Top
#12167 - 12/09/02 05:20 PM Re: Weblinks
Anonymous
Unregistered

How do you do your newsgroup searches? I need some ideas there.

Return to Top
#12168 - 12/09/02 05:30 PM Re: Weblinks
Andy_Z Offline
10K Club
Andy_Z
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 27,748
On the Net
I like to use Copernic but there are other meta search engines out there that search many sources beyond Web pages. Newsgroups can be included in those searches.
_________________________
AndyZ CRCM
My opinions are not necessarily my employers.
R+R-R=R+R
Rules and Regs minus Relationships equals Resentment and Rebellion. John Maxwell

Return to Top
#12169 - 12/09/02 11:43 PM Re: Weblinks
Anonymous
Unregistered

Google has a feature that allows you to search newsgroups.

You can get directly to that feature with this link:
http://www.google.com/grphp?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=

Return to Top

Moderator:  Andy_Z