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Olympic organizers in Athens seeking to control which websites can link to the official Games site have detailed a procedure that runs roughshod over the free-linking foundation of the Internet, legal observers say.

According to the "hyperlink policy" listed on the Athens 2004 site, anyone wanting to post a link must first send a request that includes a description of their site, reason for linking and length of period it will be published.

Howard Knopf, a Canadian trademark lawyer who is now director for the Center of Intellectual Property Law at Chicago's John Marshall Law School, said organizers have no legal authority to prevent people from simply linking to the website.

"If they leave their website open, it's like a public park, people are free to walk in it, and a link is just the most efficient way to get there," he said.

The hyperlink policy, which also strictly regulates the text and graphic of a link, is another example of Olympic organizers aggressively protecting the Olympic trademark.

"Of course, normally, you can link wherever you want. We're just asking people to respect the rules," said Christina Fotinopoulou, Internet content manager for Athens 2004.

In a telphone interview from Athens, she said websites with a commercial or "exploitive character," notably pornography and on-line gambling sites, are the main concern. Sites that aim to inform people are given permission.

Ms. Fotinopoulou said organizers use software that searches for links and checks if permission was requested. If not, the legal department sends letters and might contact the Internet service provider and Olympic committee in the country where the site is hosted.

People who file a request are contacted only if their site is denied a link.

"It's very seldom that we request people to remove links," she said.

Pierre Kosmidis, a spokesman for Athens 2004, said the policy is, among other reasons, "to ensure that our name and emblem are not associated with other commercial interests that may come into contradiction with our sponsors.

" 'Athens 2004' itself is a protected trademark," he wrote in an e-mail.

"Colloquially speaking, it's preposterous," said Jonathan Zittrain, co-director of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School.

"Oftentimes, institutions that are neurotic about their brand management -- it might occur to them that they want to control inbound links. For most sites, the more traffic the better." Prof. Zittrain said the practice of "deep linking" -- posting a link to a page inside a site, rather than to the home page, thereby bypassing ads and surveys -- has come up in court.