> -----Original Message----- > From: Scott R. Godin [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: Friday, February 07, 2003 11:57 PM > > Bas A. Schulte wrote: > > >> I think the same rules should apply for screenscrapers too: If > >> website owners don't want their pages to be scraped, then people > >> shouldn't do it and get their information elsewhere. It is like > >> honoring a robots.txt file. It is probably not > enforceable, but it > >> is the right thing to do. > > > > The point is: he wrote a piece of software that displays > EuroTV.com's > > information. So did Microsoft (Explorer), so did Netscape, so did a > > bunch of others (I lost track counting the numbers of browsers out > > there). > > > > How on earth can he be sued? Surely, they'd have to sue > Bill as well? > > This is a very good point indeed, and on this basis alone I > can hardly see > where a 'win' in court could be expected.
I do not believe that is the point entirely, and have to agree with Jan Dubois here: eurotv.com has made the information available for use in user controlled browsers and they asking, however impolitely, that we refrain from screenscraping their information. As good Internet citizens we should then not do it. /Henning
