Re:Show HN: CloudScrape – Cloud-based web scraping platform
by fauigerzigerk on Monday October 19, 2015 @04:22AM
(#10411760)
>You're not a lawyer
And you are a lawyer?
>This directly contradicts your previous comment
Absolutely not. The default intention of putting an HTTP server online is not "letting stuff lying around", it is publishing stuff. And yes, the default can be overruled in various ways.
>There is already case law precedent regarding this exact type of publically accessible information not being authorized
You're grasping for straws here. In this specific case, it was completely obvious that this information was not supposed to be public. It was an embarrassing security failure that the defendant wanted to expose.
I think we agree on a lot. robots.txt should be honored and scraping in way or for a purpose that negatively impacts the website's viability or business model is unethical. But usually, such purposes are covered by copyright law anyway.
And you are a lawyer?
>This directly contradicts your previous comment
Absolutely not. The default intention of putting an HTTP server online is not "letting stuff lying around", it is publishing stuff. And yes, the default can be overruled in various ways.
>There is already case law precedent regarding this exact type of publically accessible information not being authorized
You're grasping for straws here. In this specific case, it was completely obvious that this information was not supposed to be public. It was an embarrassing security failure that the defendant wanted to expose.
I think we agree on a lot. robots.txt should be honored and scraping in way or for a purpose that negatively impacts the website's viability or business model is unethical. But usually, such purposes are covered by copyright law anyway.