1. Ask a lawyer.
  2. I am not a lawyer, this is not legal advice, if you get sued into oblivion I am not responsible. I am not a lawyer...

That said:

Legally, there isnt anything wrong with creating a client that used the standard http protocal to retrieve and send information, is there?

First off, with the state of most judicial systems, it doesn't matter. You piss off a large company bad enough, chances are you're going to run into financial trouble, whether or not what you did was illegal (see any of about 50 000 recent cases for more details). If this bothers you I suggest you do something to improve it.

Secondly, you have to consider a few other interpretations of your actions. What's the difference between a valid request and a request that compromises a server? In many cases, nothing. Just because a service is made available by a company doesn't necessarily mean you can take advantage of it anyway you like.

Finally, consider your actions from the perspective of the target company. Is it profitable to sue you for grabbing your email via a method that subverts their advertising? Not unless they want to make an example out of you to curb a wider trend. Making a tool that automates it publically available is another issue altogether as it provides a very large target for a company that doesn't approve.

So to sum up (remembering I'm not a lawyer), it doesn't matter if it's illegal with the current state of affairs, even if you're right you could still get burned. Proceed at your own risk.

-- Some guy who isn't a lawyer.

In reply to Re: legality of extracting content from websites by Anonymous Monk
in thread legality of extracting content from websites by jasonbasic

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