23 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}
23 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}

Is it illegal to offer Scrapers on this Forum?

by r0dvan
19 replies
Hello guys..

I love programming Web Scrapers and I can scrape almost all sites that comes to mind.
I want to build up reputation in this forum offering freebies if you giveaway a like in my site. Seems like a fair trade. But is this illegal in this forum?

Just curious before I get banned or something.
#forum #illegal #offer #scrapers
  • Profile picture of the author lastreporter
    Originally Posted by r0dvan View Post

    Hello guys..

    I love programming Web Scrapers and I can scrape almost all sites that comes to mind.
    I want to build up reputation in this forum offering freebies if you giveaway a like in my site. Seems like a fair trade. But is this illegal in this forum?

    Just curious before I get banned or something.
    Scraping other peoples' copyrighted content and using it without their permission to realize monetary gain? If that's what you mean, I would think it is illegal. That's why Google banned it. It flooded the Internet with Blog spam, right?

    I know I really hate when I spend a year creating content and then see it scraped and used by someone using an IP registered in Saudi Arabia.

    Not cricket, if you know what I mean.

    And unless I misunderstand your post, you are offering members an application that can scape others content in return for a like? Isn't this gaming the system, just a little? Sort of like what A-Rod did, which is getting him suspended from Baseball?

    If I misunderstand you, I apologize. Perhaps I got it wrong.
    Signature
    Charm City Gallery
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8351575].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Paul Myers
    Illegal? No. Against the forum's policies? Yeah.

    I've deleted around 20 offers in the past few days that included scraping, auto-posting, etc. No sense becoming "Yet Another."
    Signature
    .
    Stop by Paul's Pub - my little hangout on Facebook.

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8351576].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author tpw
      Originally Posted by SandraLarkin View Post

      I'm talking about yellow page type sites.

      Those are public listings. You can not copyright that type of stuff. I have also seen WSOs selling this type of scraper on here.

      I will defer to the attorney who is posting in this thread to answer whether it is legal to scrape content from the Yellow Page type websites.


      Originally Posted by Paul Myers View Post

      Illegal? No. Against the forum's policies? Yeah.

      I've deleted around 20 offers in the past few days that included scraping, auto-posting, etc. No sense becoming "Yet Another."

      I will defer to the Warrior Forum moderator whether the OP will be banned if he tries to sell scraper software in this forum, or whether your software will continue to be allowed to be sold here in the future.
      Signature
      Bill Platt, Oklahoma USA, PlattPublishing.com
      Publish Coloring Books for Profit (WSOTD 7-30-2015)
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8351764].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author SandraLarkin
        Banned
        Originally Posted by tpw View Post

        I will defer to the attorney who is posting in this thread to answer whether it is legal to scrape content from the Yellow Page type websites.





        I will defer to the Warrior Forum moderator whether the OP will be banned if he tries to sell scraper software in this forum, or whether your software will continue to be allowed to be sold here in the future.
        Ok, however I thought he was talking about other types of scrapers and auto posters, not public domain ones like yellow pages.


        I just recently saw a scraper that scraped businesses on here that sold well over 1k copies. It was not a long time ago, it was within a few months.


        So it happened, on the WF, a scraper was being sold. That is all I was saying.
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8351779].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author tpw
          Originally Posted by SandraLarkin View Post

          I just recently saw a scraper that scraped businesses on here that sold well over 1k copies. It was not a long time ago, it was within a few months.


          So it happened, on the WF, a scraper was being sold. That is all I was saying.

          That is Paul's call, not mine.

          Most often when a product is sold on the forum that is actually against the rules, it is because a moderator did not learn about it.
          Signature
          Bill Platt, Oklahoma USA, PlattPublishing.com
          Publish Coloring Books for Profit (WSOTD 7-30-2015)
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8351785].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author kindsvater
          I wasn't getting into "facts" that are not copyrighted. I only said digging out contact info so I can get more spam and sales phone calls was not cool.

          But, as far as scraping Yellow Pages sites for "facts" a couple issues. First, the terms of access may prohibit automated scraping, and there have been cases on this. It can also be a federal criminal offense, and a similar offense in places like California, to access a site in a manner which is not permitted. Second, if the site spikes its content and you use it, assuming those are "facts" about a real company, then suddenly you may have a copyright problem.

          .
          Signature
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8351804].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author r0dvan
        Originally Posted by tpw View Post

        I will defer to the attorney who is posting in this thread to answer whether it is legal to scrape content from the Yellow Page type websites.





        I will defer to the Warrior Forum moderator whether the OP will be banned if he tries to sell scraper software in this forum, or whether your software will continue to be allowed to be sold here in the future.

        Hey Mate, chill down. I was asking if it was proper. Im just a coder that is starting to learn from this forum. I also purchased my VIP membership here.

        Im trying to make a living on the Internet, I got many legit portals that are giving me a very good way of living. I was just asking about this, since I am pretty good with the CSS and HttpRequests. Just that, its a phase and I can program any dynamic website I want, wether is PHP and now Ruby MVC.

        I havent tried to sold anything here. And its weird that a WSO sold 1,000 copies for a YellowPages Scraper.
        Signature
        LeadGen.tools - Lead Generation Search Engine from any Network and many useful tools. FREE trial.
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8351814].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author tpw
          Originally Posted by r0dvan View Post

          Hey Mate, chill down. I was asking if it was proper. Im just a coder that is starting to learn from this forum. I also purchased my VIP membership here.

          I wasn't actually talking to you, when I made that post. I was talking to the other person.

          I understand that you are a coder looking for a product to develop. I have no issue with that at all.

          But, if you plan on being here long-term, I would recommend that you pay close attention to what Paul Myers posted above. He could make your stay very short term if you screw up.
          Signature
          Bill Platt, Oklahoma USA, PlattPublishing.com
          Publish Coloring Books for Profit (WSOTD 7-30-2015)
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8351836].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author r0dvan
    Well actually is not scraping content (from blogs ).
    I meant scraping from pages like Yellow Pages, Yelp, Yahoo Local, Manta, etc.
    In order to get leads and knowledge of possible clients.

    I want to be clear that I am against spammers.
    Spammers always got caught and also duplicated content will always counterproductive.

    Same as you @lastreporter I have had this problems with other people from India and Pakistan for duplicating content.
    Also I hate watching comment SPAM on my blogs, I had to take several serious measures.

    But what do you think about Google Places scraper and such, also deep scraping regex for having updated phone numbers from main URLS and also having emails for direct contact (without spamming).

    It would be interesting for the forum?

    P.D.: The like is just for giving my domain authority. Im giving this for free and limited.
    If people wants something unlimited for scraping I might be able to release it, only if they contact me.
    Signature
    LeadGen.tools - Lead Generation Search Engine from any Network and many useful tools. FREE trial.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8351647].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author kindsvater
      Originally Posted by r0dvan View Post

      Well actually is not scraping content (from blogs ).
      I meant scraping from pages like Yellow Pages, Yelp, Yahoo Local, Manta, etc.
      In order to get leads and knowledge of possible clients.
      You posted that while I was working on my reply and some other things, and my reply was obviously directed to content.

      If you're digging out contact information for leads, which necessarily means more unrequested solicitations by various means, ummm, the faster you're shut down the better. I'm sure you understand.

      .
      Signature
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8351694].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author lastreporter
      Originally Posted by r0dvan View Post

      Well actually is not scraping content (from blogs ).
      I meant scraping from pages like Yellow Pages, Yelp, Yahoo Local, Manta, etc.
      In order to get leads and knowledge of possible clients.

      I want to be clear that I am against spammers.
      Spammers always got caught and also duplicated content will always counterproductive.

      Same as you @lastreporter I have had this problems with other people from India and Pakistan for duplicating content.
      Also I hate watching comment SPAM on my blogs, I had to take several serious measures.

      But what do you think about Google Places scraper and such, also deep scraping regex for having updated phone numbers from main URLS and also having emails for direct contact (without spamming).

      It would be interesting for the forum?

      P.D.: The like is just for giving my domain authority. Im giving this for free and limited.
      If people wants something unlimited for scraping I might be able to release it, only if they contact me.
      I know you are only trying to make a living, and I know how difficult it can be, but scraping telephone numbers and emails for leads is something Google tries to block from its search engine. That is scraping robots. Also, Yelp considers its content copyrighted and those who leave reviews about businesses are not doing so to provide leads to those who will approach those businesses trying to pitch them.

      To me the people who want these scraped phone numbers and emails are using them for unsolicited marketing emails or telephone calls.

      Take me.

      Everyday, I get between 2 to 4 unsolicited telephone calls and about 125 spam emails. Most if not all are trying to sell me junk, get-rich-quick schemes, time share, Viagra, porno, security systems, etc. None of them are offering any real value. All of them are invasive and harassing.

      It gets old and makes me act very rude to those who call and spam me despite the federal laws against such unwanted solicitations.

      So, to me the issue of scraping comes back to one of spam, and of course the unauthorized use of proprietary content.

      That's just the way I think about it from my personal experience in marketing. In fact, I can say that unsolicited calls or emails have never been worth the negative blowback for me. To me there is something inherently wrong with them.

      That's just me.

      Good luck.
      Signature
      Charm City Gallery
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8351704].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author kindsvater
    My first thought is this is obviously a problem based on typical 'scraping' - especially as seen around here.

    On the other hand, is there something more appropriate you can create with your talents? For instance, "scraping" to create a search engine? Or a meta-search?

    I have switched my primary search engine to IXQuick.com, which offers metasearch results from different sources. It has been very effective and for most of my searches the results are, IMHO, clearly better than Google's mess of spam sites that for some reason Google feels compelled to index just because they exist.

    Scraping your own sites to create on-site searching seems to me something that has been under-developed for a decade, unless one wants to rely on Google. The WordPress default search is really bad.

    Some resources can be "scraped" without problem because of their legal terms. Wikipedia is an obvious example, which Google is scraping the heck out of to help create its own content portal.

    That's what I would think about.

    .
    Signature
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8351669].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author SandraLarkin
    Banned
    Most of the sites are public domain content, none of it is copywrited. All a scraper will do is grab them in mass, instead of doing it manually.


    I have personally saw a scraper sold here for yellow pages, so I think you should be good.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8351726].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author tpw
      Originally Posted by SandraLarkin View Post

      Most of the sites are public domain content, none of it is copywrited. All a scraper will do is grab them in mass, instead of doing it manually.


      I have personally saw a scraper sold here for yellow pages, so I think you should be good.

      What kind of kool-aid is that you are drinking? Would it be cherry- or lemon-flavored?
      Signature
      Bill Platt, Oklahoma USA, PlattPublishing.com
      Publish Coloring Books for Profit (WSOTD 7-30-2015)
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8351746].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author SandraLarkin
        Banned
        Originally Posted by tpw View Post

        What kind of kool-aid is that you are drinking? Would it be cherry- or lemon-flavored?
        I'm talking about yellow page type sites.


        Those are public listings. You can not copyright that type of stuff. I have also seen WSOs selling this type of scraper on here.
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8351750].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author lastreporter
          Originally Posted by SandraLarkin View Post

          I'm talking about yellow page type sites.


          Those are public listings. You can not copyright that type of stuff. I have also seen WSOs selling this type of scraper on here.
          He also mentioned scraping review sites such as Yelp. They are not Public Domain. Their content is copyrighted.

          Therefore, it is not a good practice in the realm of good business practices. However, in the blackhat arena it is standard fare and considered an everyday practice.
          Signature
          Charm City Gallery
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8351765].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author writeaway
    OP, WF is a white hat forum. Conduct yourself accordingly. Just saying.
    Signature
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8351751].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Istvan Horvath
    @SandraLarkin,

    Public info (read: publicly available) and public domain (when it comes about copyright) are not the same.
    Signature

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8351786].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author r0dvan
    Im still learning.
    I would accept suggestions for further WSO I can help develop.
    Im just looking forward to gain more knowledge and keep coding, day by day. If I stop coding one day I feel a little numb the day after that.
    So If anyone has any idea Im here to help. I wont offer any scrapers in this forum, and I will focus on very legit and white hat things.

    P.D: I personally dont like most of the WSO of this forum. I have bought many of them and they sometimes dont work. I prefer working on something that would really help people.

    (I have a portal of Science and Technology spanish content where I personally write day by day also.)

    Im open for invitations on IRC channels to keep in touch in real time.
    Signature
    LeadGen.tools - Lead Generation Search Engine from any Network and many useful tools. FREE trial.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8351878].message }}

Trending Topics