RSS feeds that are based on scraping are likely illegal from a copyright perspective. The problem with RSS is that it allows for actual content that can be read for the most part without visiting the originating site and viewing advertisements that are the basis for a revenue model. This violates "free use" -- you can quote an article but not the whole thing verbatim.
I think the portals will eventually provide categorized RSS feeds that only contain a few lines of text and a hyperlink to the site. The webmasters that get the traffic will eventually appreciate the business. Sort of like google news but for wider topics than just your everyday news. On Sat, 23 Oct 2004 20:16:05 -0400, Gary Nielson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I have a technical/philosophical question about scraping of web pages for > RSS feeds. You all helped me a while back in figuring out the use of > HTML::TokeParser and XML::RSS to extract headlines and links from web pages. > As far as I am concerned, scraping of a web page is the same as accessing a > web page through a web browser... unless I am missing something... But I was > talking to techies at a big corporation who manage web sites and they were > telling me that they cringe whenever the word "scraping" is used, that it is > like chalk on a blackboard to them... I didn't have the chance to pursue > this with them, but it surprised me. So what is wrong with "scraping," or > what are the disadvantages of it over other technologies? Aren't many of the > RSS feeds out there as a result of scraping? Any insights appreciated. > > _______________________________________________ > ActivePerl mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > To unsubscribe: http://listserv.ActiveState.com/mailman/mysubs > _______________________________________________ ActivePerl mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe: http://listserv.ActiveState.com/mailman/mysubs
