I'm considering building an API to scrape public data from a website and sell it on RapidAPI. Since the data isn't behind any login or paywall, I'm curious about the legality of this project. Could I face legal issues down the line for doing this?
2 Answers
Legally speaking, since the content is publicly available, it’s generally okay to scrape it. However, it might violate the website’s terms of service, and while you probably wouldn’t face legal action, you could get banned from the site. Just keep in mind, I'm not a lawyer!
Most websites frown upon scraping, which could lead to a civil issue like a cease and desist. Selling that data through an API complicates things—it's a form of commercial exploitation. You also need to be wary of scraping data behind paywalls or using methods that can be considered computer crimes, depending on your location. Overall, this project carries a lot of risks and might not be worth it.
You should definitely drop that acronym; it's become a bit of a joke now!