Web scraping software is readily available and has been used by many for legitimate purposes. It has also been used for illegal purposes. A website that engages in this practice should know the legal dangers of the activity.
Related Articles
Black Hat SEO Popular Techniques
General Knowledge- VII
The idea of web scraping is not new. Search engines have used this type of software to determine which results appear when someone conducts a search. They use special software software to extract data from a website and this data is then used to calculate the rankings of the website. Websites work very hard to improve their ranking and their chance of being found by anyone making a search. This use of this practice is understood and is considered to be a legitimate use for the software. However, there are services that provide web scraping and screen scraping prevention services and help the webmaster to remain safe from the attack of bad bots.
The problem with duplicacy is that it is often used for less than legitimate reasons. Since the software responsible can collect all sorts of data from websites and store the information that is collected, it represents a danger to anyone who might be affected by it. The information that can be collected can be used for many practices that are not so legitimate and may even be illegal. Anyone who is involved in this practice of content duplicacy should be aware of the legal issues implicated with this practice. It may be wise for anyone who has a website to find ways to prevent a site from being scraped or to use professional services to block site scraping.
Legal problems
The first thing to worry about, if you have a website or are using web scraping software, is when you might run into legal problems. Some of the issues that web scraping can cause include:
• Access. If the software is used to access sites it does not have the right to access and takes information that it is not entitled to, the owner of the web scarping software may find themselves in legal trouble.
• Re-use. The software can collect and reuse information. If that information is copyrighted, that might be a legal problem. Any information that is reused without permission may create legal issues for anyone who uses it.
• Robots. Some states have enacted laws that are designed to keep people from using scraping robots. These automatically search out information on websites and using them may be illegal in some states. It is up to the user of the web scraping software to comply with any laws in the state in which they are operating.
Who is Responsible
The laws and regulations surrounding this practice are not always clear. There are many grey areas that allow this practice to occur. The question is, who is responsible for determining whether the use of web scraping software is legal?
Websites collect the information, but they may not be the entity using the web scraping software. If they are using this type of software, it is not always enough to inform the website's visitors that this practice is occurring. Putting this information into the user agreement may or may not protect the website from legal problems.
It is also partly the responsibility of a site owner to prevent a site from being scraped. There is software that can be used that will do this for a website and will keep any information that is collected safe and secure. A website may or may not be held legally responsible for any web scraper that is able to collect information they have. It will depend on why the data was collected, how it was used, who collected it, and whether precautions were taken.
What to expect
The issue of content copying and the legal issues surrounding it will continue to evolve. As more courts take on this issue, the lines between legal and illegal web scraping will become clearer. Many of the cases that have been brought to court have occurred in civil court, although there are some that have been taken up in a criminal court. There will be times when such practice may actually be a felony.
Before you use spying software, you need to realize that the laws surrounding its use are not clear. If you operate a website, you need to know the legal issues that you may face if scraping software is used on your website. The best step is to use the software available to protect your website and stop web scraping and be honest on your site if web scraping is used.
Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/technology-articles/what-kind-of-legal-problems-can-web-scraping-cause-6780486.html
Related Articles
Black Hat SEO Popular Techniques
General Knowledge- VII
The idea of web scraping is not new. Search engines have used this type of software to determine which results appear when someone conducts a search. They use special software software to extract data from a website and this data is then used to calculate the rankings of the website. Websites work very hard to improve their ranking and their chance of being found by anyone making a search. This use of this practice is understood and is considered to be a legitimate use for the software. However, there are services that provide web scraping and screen scraping prevention services and help the webmaster to remain safe from the attack of bad bots.
The problem with duplicacy is that it is often used for less than legitimate reasons. Since the software responsible can collect all sorts of data from websites and store the information that is collected, it represents a danger to anyone who might be affected by it. The information that can be collected can be used for many practices that are not so legitimate and may even be illegal. Anyone who is involved in this practice of content duplicacy should be aware of the legal issues implicated with this practice. It may be wise for anyone who has a website to find ways to prevent a site from being scraped or to use professional services to block site scraping.
Legal problems
The first thing to worry about, if you have a website or are using web scraping software, is when you might run into legal problems. Some of the issues that web scraping can cause include:
• Access. If the software is used to access sites it does not have the right to access and takes information that it is not entitled to, the owner of the web scarping software may find themselves in legal trouble.
• Re-use. The software can collect and reuse information. If that information is copyrighted, that might be a legal problem. Any information that is reused without permission may create legal issues for anyone who uses it.
• Robots. Some states have enacted laws that are designed to keep people from using scraping robots. These automatically search out information on websites and using them may be illegal in some states. It is up to the user of the web scraping software to comply with any laws in the state in which they are operating.
Who is Responsible
The laws and regulations surrounding this practice are not always clear. There are many grey areas that allow this practice to occur. The question is, who is responsible for determining whether the use of web scraping software is legal?
Websites collect the information, but they may not be the entity using the web scraping software. If they are using this type of software, it is not always enough to inform the website's visitors that this practice is occurring. Putting this information into the user agreement may or may not protect the website from legal problems.
It is also partly the responsibility of a site owner to prevent a site from being scraped. There is software that can be used that will do this for a website and will keep any information that is collected safe and secure. A website may or may not be held legally responsible for any web scraper that is able to collect information they have. It will depend on why the data was collected, how it was used, who collected it, and whether precautions were taken.
What to expect
The issue of content copying and the legal issues surrounding it will continue to evolve. As more courts take on this issue, the lines between legal and illegal web scraping will become clearer. Many of the cases that have been brought to court have occurred in civil court, although there are some that have been taken up in a criminal court. There will be times when such practice may actually be a felony.
Before you use spying software, you need to realize that the laws surrounding its use are not clear. If you operate a website, you need to know the legal issues that you may face if scraping software is used on your website. The best step is to use the software available to protect your website and stop web scraping and be honest on your site if web scraping is used.
Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/technology-articles/what-kind-of-legal-problems-can-web-scraping-cause-6780486.html
No comments:
Post a Comment