Who will scrutinize the scrapers?

Web scraping allows the collection of data from third-party web sources. Data harvesting like this is one of the key pillars of the internet, but while it can be useful it also has the potential for harm.

The Cambridge Analytica scandal of 2016 first brought this type of activity to the wider public's attention but, as of today, there is still no regulatory body to govern its widespread use.

As a result companies may not not doing enough to protect user data from malicious acts, according to industry expert Karolis Toleikis, CEO of IPRoyal an IP networking and brokering firm.

In the absence of a blanket constitutional framework that governs the practice, Toleikis thinks internet users need to get better educated about the legal implications of the activities that they carry out online as well as information that they share. IPRoyal operates a Pawns app that helps users to share their unused bandwidth and earn a passive income. Toleikis says, "We always ask people who want to share their internet connection with us to carefully check their country's laws and make sure they're not doing anything illegal."

Although he thinks it would be better to have an independent industry regulator, Toleikis' company has in place self-regulatory measures to ensure that scraping is done ethically and data is not used for malicious acts. "We closely monitor all clients' requests for unusual patterns. If we notice more requests than usual, we suspend the account immediately and ask the client to provide more details about that particular case."

He also believes that social media platforms and their users also have a role to play in sanitizing the web-scraping practice and protecting crucial information from getting in the hands of unscrupulous phishers. "Everyone who puts out information on the internet and makes it public should understand anyone could use it."

There are of course positive use cases for web-scraping and data harvesting so it would be counterproductive to ban the practice. However, if all data scraping companies were to operate under a uniform set of laws there would be a framework for users to seek redress in the event of a violation of their privacy rights.

You can find out more about IPRoyal Pawns on the company's site.

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