I have a project idea for which I want to mine publicly available data on another website that it received by crowd-sourcing. This is so I have initial data for my own project. To reiterate, I want to write a robot to grab data that is displayed on another website and use it for my own website. Does anyone know the legality of this sort of thing? Does the original website own the data that was given to it by a crowd? Even if so, can I use it?
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Brian Tompsett - 汤莱恩
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Eugene K
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1This is a legal question and not appropriate for this forum, but I suggest you ask the website in mind as a starting point. – James Beilby Nov 09 '12 at 19:02
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If you're going to down vote a legitimate question, you really should leave a comment as to why you did so. – Eugene K Nov 09 '12 at 19:02
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@EugeneK can't speak for the downvoters, but I'm not sure this is as legitimate as you think it is. Legal advice, which is what you are seeking, is not really on topic for SO as there really is not a right answer, but more based on someone's opinion of what is right/wrong. – psubsee2003 Nov 12 '12 at 16:37
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Web scraping is a legally complicated issue. The hassles of legal action and enforceability often keep scrapers from getting in trouble. Outright duplication is considered actionable, although courts have ruled that "duplication of facts" is permitted (US).
I advise you read up here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_scraping#Legal_issues
Best,
R Ghosh
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legally, you should be fine. as long as the data is made available and the people have consented; you aren't hacking and the other site has permission to share. check for a license on the other site, if there isn't one inquire or be prepared for access to be denied at some point. and even though it is publicly available doesn't mean the other site wants it to be.
also, double check and make sure that you don't inadvertently publish private data as well.
Wayne Weibel
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