[extropy-chat] So along comes this legal precedent...

[Emlyn]

Actually, that's pretty interesting... please keep us informed of how it goes.

-- 
Emlyn

http://emlynoregan.com   * blogs * music * software *

On Fri, 13 Aug 2004 21:48:04 -0700 (PDT), Adrian Tymes
<wingcat at pacbell.net> wrote:
> Ah, the vagaries of work.  One never knows what one
> will stumble across.
> 
> One of my current jobs has been to build a data mining
> script, to turn a very limited search interface
> provided by King County (of Washington state) into
> useful data for a real estate company.  The
> information is your standard "must provide to the
> public" kind of thing, without limitation.
> 
> Only King County decided that data miners, or any kind
> of automated, high-speed access, can not be supported,
> and are trying to say the law prevents access to the
> data at any rate greater than a human with a basic Web
> browser.  (They're also saying it strains their
> resources - but one could pose the same argument about
> providing online access in the first place.  And
> having written the script and timed the resources, I
> can testify that - assuming their scripts were written
> with the same competency I use for my own - the
> increased load on their servers from my scripts is
> quite minimal.  I'm thus not entirely certain my
> employer was the only one mining them, but hardware is
> cheap.  It's like refusing to give out copies of a
> report because all of the printed copies are gone, and
> ignoring the ability to print more.)  Just to be on
> the safe side, I've disabled the offending scripts on
> my employer's side for the moment, but...
> 
> It turns out that this is a legal gray area in most of
> the United States.  My employer has a meeting set up
> with Washington's Attorney General to address the
> matter.  It has been represented to me that this is
> likely to help establish precedent for other states as
> well.
> 
> Now, granted, this is far from a core Extropian issue,
> or even a core "freedom of information" issue.  (One
> could well view it as a corporation trying to improve
> what those with resources can accomplish, among other
> valid counter-arguments.)  Even so, I think some on
> this list might find it food for thought.
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