GoFuckYourself.com - Adult Webmaster Forum - View Single Post - Is Data-mining / Harvesting illegal?

goBigtime · 10-12-2003, 06:16 AM

Is Datamining / Harvesting web accessible data legal if you don't have to register & agree to terms & conditions that may prevent you from doing so?

We'll use Ebay as an example since they are big, mainstream & have well established policies:

Some information you could obtain from Ebay would require you to be a member to get access to it.

When you register for eBay, you actually have to [Click] or [X] a box claiming you have read, understood & accepted there terms (which undoubtedly forbid spidering or datamining)

However, maybe you just wanted to compile some data from their site that is available to non-registered, guest users.

There IS a usage agreement at the bottom of the pages that also forbids users from datamining but would that actually hold up in court? Since the gues t user never really accepted it, and it's link is super fine print at the bottom of the page?

Or what if there was no user/usage agreement at all on the page that containted the data?

For the record...

I have no desire to harvest data from eBay - I just used them as an example because they are well established and have their bases covered.

In fact it's just the opposite... I want to PROTECT some data for a project I'll be working on, but without decreasing functionality - I almost have to disclose more of the data to guest users than I want.

But if someone in the industry for this project used the data they harvested from me, it would be obvious where they got it.

10-12-2003, 06:16 AM
goBigtime Confirmed User Join Date: Nov 2002 Posts: 7,761	Is Data-mining / Harvesting illegal? Is Datamining / Harvesting web accessible data legal if you don't have to register & agree to terms & conditions that may prevent you from doing so? We'll use Ebay as an example since they are big, mainstream & have well established policies: Some information you could obtain from Ebay would require you to be a member to get access to it. When you register for eBay, you actually have to [Click] or [X] a box claiming you have read, understood & accepted there terms (which undoubtedly forbid spidering or datamining) However, maybe you just wanted to compile some data from their site that is available to non-registered, guest users. There IS a usage agreement at the bottom of the pages that also forbids users from datamining but would that actually hold up in court? Since the gues t user never really accepted it, and it's link is super fine print at the bottom of the page? Or what if there was no user/usage agreement at all on the page that containted the data? For the record... I have no desire to harvest data from eBay - I just used them as an example because they are well established and have their bases covered. In fact it's just the opposite... I want to PROTECT some data for a project I'll be working on, but without decreasing functionality - I almost have to disclose more of the data to guest users than I want. But if someone in the industry for this project used the data they harvested from me, it would be obvious where they got it.