The 5 Biggest Myths About Web Scraping

thanks-web 16 Nov 2022

While the word web-scraping might have a negative connotation for some reasons, businesses can also use it to extract important data about their competitors and improve their own business model. When you see some data on your competitor’s website, and you are trying to figure out how you can download it, web scraping can help you with it.

By automating and simplifying the data extraction process, web scraping enables you to extract desired information from any website quickly. By providing a CSV format for outputting this scraped info in an easy-to-use environment, it becomes accessible by anyone with access either via computer or mobile device.

Web Scraping Myths that Everyone Should Know

  • Web Scraping is Illegal 

    Web scraping is perfectly legal as long you do not collect password-protected information or Personally Identifiable data (PII). It’s important to pay attention to the Terms of Service on target websites and ensure that rules and regulations are followed when collecting from a specific site. Companies who only work with open-source web data collection networks which have been anonymized can always go right, as they maintain a privacy standard.

  • Web Scraping is Only for Developers 

    Whether you have any technical background or not, you can web scrape. There’s a common misconception that only developers are able to control their data intake. But with new zero-code tools available in the market, anyone can automate the process of scraping websites without having any technical skills. These solutions also come complete with templates for web scrapers on both local area networks (LAN) and wide area networks (WAN).

  • Scraping is Hacking 

    Hacking and web scraping have been around since the early days of computing. Some people might use it to conduct criminal activity, but it does not negate the fact that the process in itself is not a crime. They help in everyday life by making technology more accessible to everyone throughout society. Web scrapers access publicly available data on target websites, which is typically used by businesses to better compete in their space; this results in fairer market prices for consumers overall.

  • You can use Scraped Data for AnythingScraping data from websites for public consumption and using it in the analysis is perfectly legal. However, if you scrape confidential information without permission or sell them to a 3rd party, then this could be illegal depending on country laws regarding copyright protection (and other factors).
  • You can use one Scraper Tool for all target sitesThe way a company designs its website can vary greatly depending on what they are trying to achieve, so you cannot use one data scraping tools for every target site. Using just one kind of software for all target sites will affect different programs differently, which could lead to some very wrong paths and cause more problems than solutions.

SS Technolgy is a leading IT service provider that can help you with web scraping services to achieve your business goals.

 

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