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Is Data Mining for Product Pricing, Illegal?

Posted by Cliff on from the courts-and-ethics dept.

wessman asks: "I started to read Orin S. Kerr's 80-page paper looking for how his proposal would pertain to: ripping music/movies, P2P, corporate espionage, and lastly, the use of web scraper robots. Little did I know just how relevant his paper would be in regards to that last item! Kerr makes note of EF Cultural Travel v. Explorica in which Explorica is caught hiring a consultant to program a scraping robot to gather pricing information from a competitor, EF Cultural Travel. Well, I do consulting on the side from home and am currently working a project whereby I gather pricing information from all the major travel conglomerates (Orbitz, Expedia, Lodging.com, WorldRes, Sabre, etc.) so that the travel booking business that hired me can meet or beat all their prices. Granted, the circumstances of the Explorica case are different and the case was an example of an extreme ruling, but my questions to the Slashdot community are: Do I notify the company that hired me of the Explorica case? Why is using a scraper robot so different from, say, walking into Best Buy with a handheld and recording product pricing manually? Should I continue with this project and the similar projects I do in this area of programming?" Now, add in the text in the "deliverables" section of this press release and it seems we may have some contradictory information. Who is right, and under what circumstances is price harvesting off of the internet not allowed?

11 of 350 comments (clear)

  1. let me ask you this. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Is the comma near the end of this question, necessary?

    1. Re:let me ask you this. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      Whoa, reading your comment was like the first time I "got" one of those Magic Eye posters.

    2. Re:let me ask you this. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      Shut the fuck, up.

  2. FP? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    FP?

  3. How about NOSE MINING for FP Treasures? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic
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  4. fp by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    fp

  5. Re:Data mining... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    this one needs pluggin'.

    Know what I mean? ;)

  6. I got a, fever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    And the only prescription, is more, cow,bell.

  7. Magic Eye Poster! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Like this one?

  8. 7-11 Guy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic
    THE WORST SIG EVER

    "Remove wrapper, open mouth, insert muffin, eat." -- Instructions on the packaging for a muffin at a 7-11.

    Fuck.. that is so stupid!

  9. title has CONVERSATIONAL grammar by oliverthered · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Slashdot is a conversation web site, so, I would expect to see a lot of conversational grammar in
    use.

    In the case of the headline, I believe that the comma represents 'a DRAMATIC pause'.

    Much like:
    The inhabitants of Mars, do they realy care?

    --
    thank God the internet isn't a human right.