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niespodd / browser-fingerprinting

Analysis of Bot Protection systems with available countermeasures 🚿. How to defeat anti-bot system 👻 and get around browser fingerprinting scripts 🕵️‍♂️ when scraping the web?
https://niespodd.github.io/browser-fingerprinting/
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is this legal? #4

Open barkermn01 opened 2 years ago

barkermn01 commented 2 years ago

just a question where does this stand on the DMCA?

I'm fairly sure website owners are the copyright holder of their content and are perfectly within their rights to prevent anyone including software from seeing their content, so would this be classed as a circumnavigation of digital security and if so is that illegal under the DMCA? the US law is Title 17, Chapter 12, section 1201.

If I'm wrong please inform me because this seems like a powerful tool but then could its use be a crime?

geeknik commented 2 years ago

If I'm wrong please inform me because this seems like a powerful tool but then could its use be a crime?

Scraping the web is not a crime, see Van Buren v. United States.

barkermn01 commented 2 years ago

Scraping the web is not a crime, see Van Buren v. United States.

https://scholar.google.co.uk/scholar_case?case=3107782312309511960&q=Van+Buren+v.+United+States&hl=en&as_sdt=2006&as_vis=1

It has nothing to do with scraping the web...

geeknik commented 2 years ago

LOL, yes it does.

https://mccarthygarberlaw.com/what-the-supreme-court-opinion-in-van-buren-means-for-web-scraping/

barkermn01 commented 2 years ago

LOL, yes it does.

Actually, it does not it has an inferred meaning the case does not involve scraping the web read the article you linked, the first line of paragraph 3

Obviously, this case doesn’t have anything to do with web scraping, at least not literally. But where it does impact web scraping is that the CFAA has often been used to litigate against web scrapers who purportedly “exceed authorized access” by scraping a website where the host website didn’t want them to scrape.

And then paragraph 5 comes into play

So if you’re a web scraper, or any other computer user, your liability under the CFAA is now governed by a simple question: Do you have a legal right to access the location where you are scraping? If the answer is yes, then CFAA liability should not accrue to your conduct, even if the website you’re scraping thinks that you’re accessing their databases or information “for an improper purpose.”

And then that leads back to the DMCA, website's contents could be copyright so does this violate the DMCA because if it does it triggers the "Do you have a legal right" question and violating the DMCA would be a no you don't have a legal right. since the section of the DCMA I'm referring to had just been updated to be more explicitly listing any type of circumnavigation including easily accessible is still a violation.

Event the article you list still says there are questions at the end of it:

To be clear, this is not the last word on the law of web scraping. Many other legal claims, from breach of contract to trespass to chattels, to copyright infringement, to unjust enrichment and others, have been and will continue to be pursued against web scrapers. But at least in terms of the main federal law that governs web scraping, the legal outlook for web scraping in the United States just got a little brighter.

ericjung commented 2 years ago

@barkermn01 You are asking legal advice from people who are likely not lawyers. Sounds like you need to consult an attorney who specializes in law in your country.