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

Scraping and copyright

Author:Chris Hanson
Posted:9/1/1999; 11:40:22 AM
Topic:Scraping and copyright
Msg #:10410
Prev/Next:10409 / 10411

In the latest DaveNet, Dave Winer said:

That's why the copyright notice is there -- to claim ownership, and to claim the right to determine how the information and ideas on the page, as a collection, are used.

I'm not a lawyer, but this is contrary to my understanding of copyright. My understanding is that you can only copyright a particular expression of an idea, not the idea (or information) itself.

My feeling on the whole issue is that if something's posted in public, it's fair game for such uses (which in my opinion have absolutely nothing to do with copyright, just like deep linking). If you don't want your site scraped, hide it behind an authentication scheme where readers have to agree not to post summaries or URLs, and deal with the corresponding drop in readership.

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