diondev Posted August 5, 2009 Share Posted August 5, 2009 Would I run into legal issues scraping message boards on the internet? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.josh Posted August 5, 2009 Share Posted August 5, 2009 Scraping itself is not illegal, though it's a good way to get you banned real quick. Main thing though is what you are doing with the content you scrape.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diondev Posted August 6, 2009 Author Share Posted August 6, 2009 I.E taking posts from forums on the internet and putting them into my own forum Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trq Posted August 6, 2009 Share Posted August 6, 2009 You would need to read the TOS of the forum in question. Most would frown upon the idea I would think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel0 Posted August 6, 2009 Share Posted August 6, 2009 Copyright law would prohibit it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diondev Posted August 6, 2009 Author Share Posted August 6, 2009 Copyright law would prohibit it. How would comments and questions posted in an internet forum fall under copyright law? Copying facts is legal. So lets say I scraped the PHP help forum here - someone asked a question and then 3 people answered. That couldn't be protected under copyright law...right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waynew Posted August 6, 2009 Share Posted August 6, 2009 Check the TOS of the website. If what users submit is owned by the site ( I think this is the case for most sites) then you just can't take that content and display it on yours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zq29 Posted August 6, 2009 Share Posted August 6, 2009 How would comments and questions posted in an internet forum fall under copyright law? Copying facts is legal. So lets say I scraped the PHP help forum here - someone asked a question and then 3 people answered. That couldn't be protected under copyright law...right? As far as I'm aware, any and all content can, and is by default, copy-written by it's author. In our case, by joining and contributing to our forums, you have agreed to transfer ownership to us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel0 Posted August 6, 2009 Share Posted August 6, 2009 Actually, you grant us a "perpetual, irrevocable, world-wide, transferable, non-exclusive, royalty free license" (TOS). The distinction is that if you actually transfer the license to us you will no longer be able to use it yourself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nrg_alpha Posted August 6, 2009 Share Posted August 6, 2009 All your base are belong to us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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