"We can scrape any website"

1. 60

   paradigmsearchposted 11 years ago

   "Give us a site, we will scrape the data even if it blocks, guaranteed"
   
   A Google ad on a hub I just saw...

   replyreport
   1. 89

      Simone Smithposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Wow.... @_@

      replyreport
   2. 87

      innerspinposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I saw one of these ads yesterday and was mystified. They seem to say whatever on-site security was used, they could scrape content. Not a happy thought, and how the heck are they advertising this?

      replyreport
      1. 60

         paradigmsearchposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         I'd like to know what Google is thinking as well...

         replyreport
         1. 70

            livewithrichardposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            Legitimate scraping is not as nefarious as people here may think.  Of course we as content writers only hear about those thieves that steal our hubs ans republish them as their own.  Website scraping has some legitimate uses.. For example, if I wanted to start selling a product or service to people in the "Widget" industry, I would benefit from hiring an expert to scrape every business directory online for contact information of others that would have use for my "Widgets."  If I were preparing a prospectus for a company, I might hire an expert to scrape every bit of historical data on stocks in a certain industry.  If I were putting a team together to head my new "Widget" company, I might hire an expert to scrape Linkdn, Facebook, and other social networks to find me the best qualified candidates to approach.  If I were putting together an ecommerce site, I might hire an expert to scrape product data from eBay, Amazon and other large online retailers to find me the best selling products for each category.   
            
            I'm pretty certain that the Google ads you seen are for companies that provide the above types of services...

            replyreport
            1. 60

               paradigmsearchposted 11 years agoin reply to this

               I was sincerely hoping for some kind of explanation like that...

               replyreport
               1. 60

                  Hollie Thomasposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                  Ah, so this why so many DMCA take down notices are not upheld.

                  replyreport
                  1. 70

                     livewithrichardposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                     A notice has no bite, especially if someone republishes stolen content on their own domain... A notice is just that, a notice.  You would actually have to file a lawsuit and take a person to court to recover any presumed damages from stolen content.  This is just not a viable option for most content creators that write for pennies... it's just not worth it.

                     replyreport
2. 81

   SoundNFuryposted 11 years ago

   ok naive newbie here but what exactly does that mean?

   replyreport
   1. 60

      paradigmsearchposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      To me it has always meant stealing another's content.
      
      But I just did a search at google for "website scraping", and Google is perfectly happy plastering these ads all over the place. So, I am non-plussed at the very least...

      replyreport
3. 57

   A Driveby Quipperposted 11 years ago

   Is website scraping like a PAP smear?

   replyreport