Content-type: text/html Downes.ca ~ Stephen's Web ~ The Great Scrape: The Clash Between Scraping and Privacy

Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community

The argument: AI is wrong because scraping is wrong. Scraping is wrong because it violates privacy. The article (64 page PDF) offers a definition of scraping ("'data scraping' refers to any time 'a computer program extracts data from output generated from another program.'") and proposes a framework based on bedrock principles known as the "Fair Information Practice Principles" (FIPPs) generally accepted by information privacy law. So, I have questions. Like, by this definition, isn't a web browser a scraping engine? When I follow a blog or newsletter, is this a form of surveillance? Should I be required to notify people if I read their posts and stop if I didn't? Are bookmarks now illegal? Can I no longer store summaries of the content I actually read in a database? You can't just say "it's bad because we use tools."

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Stephen Downes Stephen Downes, Casselman, Canada
stephen@downes.ca

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Last Updated: Oct 05, 2024 2:06 p.m.

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