Tim Berners-Lee anticipated NPR's absurd link policy in 1997, in this paper on Links and the Law:
The intention in the design of the web was that normal links should simply be references, with no implied meaning.
A normal hypertext link does NOT necessarily imply that
* One document endorses the other; or that
* One document is created by the same person as the other, or that
* One document is to be considered part of another.
(Thanks, Patrick!)