Malicious screen scraping: Worth preventing?

2009-09-29

A number of recent cases have heightened the profile of screen scraping. But why should firms now be looking out for screen scraping issues that could affect them? Is it that much of a problem that it deserves a business' attention?

According to TJ McIntyre, a lecturer in law at University College Dublin and chairman of Digital Rights Ireland, screen scraping is already quite a big issue. While not every scenario would create as much publicity as others, there have been a number of cases in the US involving screen scraping. He pointed to one example involving eBay and Bidder's Edge, where the latter was taking data from the auction website

Although Mr McIntyre said that while screen scraping is not necessarily something that could cause damage, the question lies with whether or not "there is a legitimate public interest in being able to reuse information and present it on a website in other contexts". There is also a question over whether there would be any countervailing intellectual property rights issues arising from this.

"Really the question is whether what is involved is something that is actually causing damage to the other firm's server, by overloading it for example," the expert commented.

Another issue with screen scraping is whether it either prejudices a company or if it is actually beneficial for the business that is scraped, Mr McIntyre commented. Screen scrapers can, in fact, draw attention to other sites' services in a positive way, he noted.

"Search engines present much the same issues with regards to the publicity they give to sites," Mr McIntyre continued. In this case, the question becomes whether a screen scraping site is displaying information that will direct the user towards a particular site or if the data is leading to a drop in traffic from the scraped company, in turn affecting a business. For the latter, it is as though the business has been somewhat "siphoned off", he stated.

The expert noted that often technical counter measures have been used to prevent screen scrapers from appropriating data. For example, certain IP ranges might be blocked from accessing a website, he said. So what measures are available to organisations?

According to Sentor MSS, businesses need an advanced system that can analyse traffic and then notify them when someone downloads too much information from their database. The firm provides a managed anti-scraping service named ASSASSIN that can detect and block the most sophisticated scraper in real time. Sentor guarantees that all scraping activity on a website will be blocked within minutes of detection with this system in place, in turn effectively protecting the firm's intellectual property.

Human supervision is also required by those organisations hoping to stop such scraping activity, according to Sentor, and experienced operators are needed in addition to systems such as ASSASSIN.

A recent case perhaps emphasised what can come about as a result of screen scraping activity. The Irish Times reported that advertising firm JC Decaux had launched a case against web design organisation Fusio over an iPhone application it produced for the Dublinbikes scheme.

Talking to the publication, Mr McIntyre commented: "Irrespective of the law regulating screen scraping, it is absurd and undesirable that a venture which is set up and run in conjunction with a public body should be attempting to prevent the public from accessing information about the service."

It appears that both public and private bodies can be affected by screen scraping activity. If this screen scraping is damaging a company, it could look to use services such as Sentor's to prevent any negative impact on its business.