Is selling web scraped data (b2b) of Google illegal

[Frank2474]

So am pretty good at web scraping iv done it fpr about 3/4 years now

I walked into a company and found out that they were buying b2b data like phone numbers and directors names for 10p a line

They would spend thousands on data every other month
I told them that am good at web scraping and found out were the data supplier was obtaining the data from (google)

I was able to scrap Google and other websites to build big lists
My boss sorted me out a little but not much
I mainly done it to showcase my skills on a computer

The 2nd company I worked for, on the first day I found out that this company also spends thousands just like the first company on data.

A light bulb went off and I thought why can't I set up a bussnies like this and supply b2b data to companies scraped off the web

Am not fully clued up on the laws in the UK when it comes to selling b2b data though

I was wondering if someone can tell me of this is even possible

If anyone can point me in the right direction that would be massive help

Forgot to say all the data I would be scraping would be from Google or websites with public access
All am doing it cleaning it up in exal and wanting to sell it on to other company's to drive more sales to them

 

[Alan]

This is my view, not a legal view, data that is public is public, so you can collect that data, you don't own it
so you can't sell the data as you don't own it, but you can charge a fee for the collection and distribution of that data.

If you do collect and manage data, without the originators explicit permission, then if I where you I'd steer clear of collecting data about living people, as personal data is fraught with strict rules ( mainly GDPR ), so to keep thinks simple stick to just company / business data.

If you do, you would want to make sure your contracts are water tight, to protect you from tehmis use of the data you provide and for errors and omissions.

Why? There are several strict laws on how you use data, e.g. GDPR, PECL as well as some export/import laws especially if you sell cross border.

 

[fisicx]

Forgot to say all the data I would be scraping would be from Google or websites with public access

Google’s terms of use forbid the use of scraping tools to harvest data. Which means they could take action.

 

[Clinton]

Google’s terms of use forbid the use of scraping tools to harvest data.

Who GAF?

This is the company that scrapes more pages than probably any other firm in the world. And they don't ask permission first, they require site owners to put tech means in place to block them.

There are some sites of mine on which I don't want them (or their users). Why should it be MY responsibility to block them? The T&Cs on those sites say clearly that I don't want no bots. Do THEY read my terms and conditions?

They not only scrape at scale, they feel free to use your content on their SERPs page to give people the answer they seek and prevent people getting to your site (like if you have a site with definitions, or latest weather). That's theft.

Did they ask permission to use snippets from our sites (in the volume and frequency that they do)?

They've got some bloody cheek telling us not to crawl their pages!

@Frank2474 , scrape the crap out them. Mask your user agent, rotate IPs, do whatever good scrapers do. Google can't touch you!

Tell Google to go put tech means in place to block anybody crawling / scraping their pages.

Or just tell them to Go Fcuk themselves.

 

[fisicx]

Google soon picks up what your tools are doing. Which means they often block or misdirect.

You need to use proxies, IP switching and other ways to obfuscate your visits.

Like you said, scrape all you want, just hide your tracks.

 

[gpietersz]

Names and phone numbers are not covered by copyright.

You might breach someone's "database right" if you get a lot of data from a single source that compiles it.

You said "Google and other sites" - a lot depends on how you are doing it and what sites you are scraping. Would the other sites object to being scraped.

You said you have already done it, so that means that you have successfully dealt with any barriers to scraping? Its a working system?

 

[Clinton]

Google soon picks up what your tools are doing.

Nah! They're not as smart as people think.

And their corporate philosophy of finding algorithmic solutions for everything instead of taking manual actions (perhaps for scalability reasons) means it can take YEARS for them to fix a hole you've found.

So, if probing for holes - in their algo, in their crawl blocking, in whatever - find one that would require a complex algorithmic fix. That'll give you a clean run for a couple of years at least.