According to GlobeNewswire, the world’s web scraper industry was slightly more than $420 mln in 2019 and is predicted to hit 1.73 bln by 2030. Analysts claim that such an intensive development of the mentioned sector is because of active business digitalization. Increasingly more companies are launching their own websites. Consequently, the rivalry level grows on the internet. The usage of data-collecting services, in turn, helps a lot in staying competitive.
Some business owners presently avoid employing online information scraping bots, though. That’s because they consider data collecting unlawful and are afraid of being penalized. Experts, for their part, ensure that such operations are entirely legal. However, following certain rules is necessary to prevent troubles with the law. So, let’s clarify how to extract web content and not get legal problems.
Choose a Reliable Data Scraping Agency
Only reputable IT companies (like Nannostomus) deliver qualitative services and strictly follow current legislation on web content extraction. Furthermore, merely trustworthy agencies offer their clients favorable pricing. To pick a trusted web scraper, check the following things:
- Availability of a license. Reliable data extractors have all the necessary permissions issued by credible commissions.
- Terms of cooperation. Reputable IT companies sign contracts with their clients. Such agreements shouldn’t contain ambiguous statements, empty fields, or hard-to-read inscriptions. Moreover, contracts have to include clear rights and obligations of the parties.
- Range of suggested services. Trustworthy web scrapers usually also deliver data wrangling, info analysis, etc., assistances.
Additionally, experts advise checking online comments of previous clients on the quality of services of a picked company.
Which Is the Right Way to Extract Web Content?
Considering international laws is necessary when you scrape online data. This includes adherence to CCPA and CPRA in the USA as well as GDPR in the EU. However, experts recommend sticking to the mentioned acts, even if you are outside the territory of the specified jurisdictions. That’s because most local legal instruments on data protection worldwide are based on those international laws.
Don’t Extract Web Content Too Intensely
Consider the power of websites from which you are going to collect information. Of course, huge online platforms, such as Amazon or eBay, will unlikely crash, even if a web scraping bot sends loads of requests at a time.
Difficulties can appear if you extract content from much less powerful sites, e.g., local online stores, though. In this case, a website may start lagging, freezing, etc., because of a huge number of queries. This situation is often considered a DDoS attack. Thus, you may be punished as a hacker in this instance.
Don’t Scrape Personal Information
This means you shouldn’t extract the following data:
- passport details, social security numbers, etc.;
- private videos or photos;
- info about one’s political preferences, religious beliefs, and so on.
You may get more details on this topic by consulting with skilled specialists (for instance, at nannostomus.com).
Be Careful When Extracting Copyrighted Content
In most cases, only the processing of copyrighted data is allowed. So, you may, e.g., conduct non-public research or do analysis based on the mentioned info. Typically, posting short citations from copyrighted texts is also permitted. You should indicate the original authors in such cases, though.
Conclusion
Online data collecting may significantly improve your e-business. However, you have to follow certain rules to extract web content without being penalized. This implies choosing reliable data scrapers, setting info-collecting bots properly, learning current laws on data protection, and avoiding private information scanning. Additionally, the right usage of copyrighted info is necessary.
