Is It Legal to Extract a Database From Website Storage?
Data-collection services are becoming increasingly popular today. For example, MarketWatch claims the world’s web scraping software market is presently growing by more than 18% annually. And it will rise so intensively by at least 2028. Analysts explain the sector’s active development because extracting database from website storage gives you numerous advantages. However, some entrepreneurs still have doubts about this process’ legality. So, let’s dive deeper into this.
How to Avoid Problems With the Law When Extracting a Database From Website Storage
Primarily, you should find a trustworthy agency that develops web scraping software. The following features can recognize reliable IT companies:
- availability of an official license issued by a reputable authority;
- favorability of service prices;
- co-working only according to a preliminary signed contract.
Finally, credible IT firms (e.g., Nannostomus) typically offer variously-priced services. This way, developers can meet the needs of clients with different financial capabilities. At the same time, the quality of web scraping apps stays high within any-cost service package.
Learn Current Legislation Carefully
First, you should consider local data protection laws when extracting databases from websites. For example, in California, USA, online info collectors work according to the CCPA and CPRA. The latter act is quite fresh, as it came into force in January 2023. It’s actually a supplement to the CCPA that went into effect back in 2018. The CPRA allows the mining of private details published by people on social media.
Additionally, considering international data protection legislation is necessary. E.g., in the EU, the GDPR defends personal information. This regulation is stricter than the US-CA acts mentioned above. The GDPR doesn’t enable extracting any private details from websites. By the way, it is used as a base for similar law creation by numerous countries (Japan, Kenya, Brazil, Turkey, and many more) outside the EU.
Set Up Your Web Scraping Bot Properly
Consider the capacity of the websites from which you are going to extract data. E.g., low-power sites, such as local online shops, may crash if your app sends loads of queries to them at once. This, in turn, is usually seen as a hacker attack. So, you’ll be punished for that.
What Should Be Known About Copyright?
Never publish copyrighted online info you extracted from website databases. Such information may be employed as a part of research that one won’t post, though. Furthermore, you can, for instance, insert small parts of copyrighted texts into your articles. But in this case, the subsequent recommendations should be followed:
- use only the necessary pieces of information (e.g., if you need one sentence, don’t paste the whole paragraph);
- carefully paraphrase the fragments you insert (except for the cases when one uses a direct quote, of course);
- note the original authors of the employed pieces or citations.
Copyright-free data, in turn, can be used in any way. However, experts still advise rephrasing it (if it’s a text) and not publishing too much such content (if that’s about videos or images). Otherwise, search engines may block your site for plagiarism.
Bottom Line
Extraction of databases from websites is an entirely safe and legal process, but only if you cooperate with reputable developers as well as follow certain rules. Furthermore, copyright should be considered when scraping info on the internet. To get further details on this theme, visit, e.g., nannostomus.com.