To determine whether a website may be scraped, a web scraper
must understand when their actions lead to increased legal risk.
Website owners may use several legal theories to attempt to block
unauthorized scraping of their website's content. Pre-emptively
addressing these theories will reduce the legal risk associated
with web scraping. These theories include:
- Copyright Infringement;
- Breach of Contract;
- Tort Theories (Hot News Misappropriation and Trespass to
Chattels); and
- The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act ("CFAA")
In particular, web scrapers should pay attention to: (1) the
website's content (scraping websites containing merely factual
information/data is less risky); (2) the presence of check-box
website Terms of Use (a lack of a check-box suggesting website
Terms of Use may not apply); (3) statements from the web-site owner
(all statements should be considered, but cease-and-desist letters
in particular increase legal risk); (4) whether the value of
