Checking IPs is an iffy solution at best. Since HTTP is essentially stateless, they can't prove that anyone individual is necessarily guilty of anything. However, they recently requested that a module be removed from the CPAN for violating their terms of service. I think that's fair. I think as a matter of being a good netizen, it's appropriate to respect their restrictions.

Here's the relevant section from their terms of service (which is why you should use their SOAP interface - it's really easy).

No Automated Querying

You may not send automated queries of any sort to Google's system without express permission in advance from Google. Note that "sending automated queries" includes, among other things:

Please do not write to Google to request permission to "meta-search" Google for a research project, as such requests will not be granted.

Cheers,
Ovid

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In reply to Re: Re: Re: Automating a search using perl by Ovid
in thread Automating a search using perl by Baz

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