Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

Re: 130 RSS newsfeeds from Moreover.com

Author:Matt Hamer
Posted:8/31/1999; 2:20:58 PM
Topic:130 RSS newsfeeds from Moreover.com
Msg #:10341 (In response to 10337)
Prev/Next:10340 / 10342

As we begin to expose information using well-defined XML data formats (where data has been separated from a particular presentation format), we'll begin to see more of this. Right now, scraping HTML is tedious because parsing ill-formed HTML can be difficult and whenever the "scrapee" decides to tweak their page, the scraping code may need to be changed.

All of this changes with XML because presumably (like RSS or Scripting News syndication formats), the DTD or schema will be published and won't be subject to change on a whim like a web page.

I tend to think that as long as you are just providing a link to the original site (and maybe a brief synopsis), and not attempting to make it seem as though your site is the original source of information, (and, maybe, not selling ad space on your site) you are probably OK. You should certainly ask (maybe moreover.com has) for permission to do this though.

However, if we take a look at the terms of use for CNN Interactive, we read...

Subscriber may not modify, publish, transmit, participate in the transfer or sale, create derivative works, or in any way exploit, any of the content, in whole or in part. Subscriber may download copyrighted material for Subscriber's personal use only. Except as otherwise expressly permitted under copyright law, no copying, redistribution, retransmission, publication or commercial exploitation of downloaded material will be permitted without the express permission of CNN and the copyright owner.

I wouldn't want to be the first to test them on this, but similar to the "deep link" controversy, you could argue that the aggregator is doing them a favor by driving traffic to their site.

Now, is it OK for me to point my 'bot' at moreover.com (or Internet Alchemy) & use the information that they've so kindly parsed and cleaned up for me to create my own site?

There are responses to this message:

This page was archived on 6/13/2001; 4:52:18 PM.

© Copyright 1998-2001 UserLand Software, Inc.