Legal theory about public data is fun right up until someone with money decides their ToS mean something and files suit, because courts are usually a lot less impressed by "I could access it in my browser" once you pulled millions of records with a scraper. Scrape if you want, just assume you're buying legal risk.

> I believe if you put it on the internet without an auth-wall, people should be allowed to do whatever they want with it.

I agree. It's the owners of the sites that have to follow rules, not us.

[dead]

"I'm kind of old school in that I believe if you put grass on the ground without a fence, people should be allowed to do whatever they want with it. The noblemen with a thousand cows seem to agree."

And that, my friends, is how you kill the commons - by ignoring the social context surrounding its maintenance and insisting upon the most punitive ways of avoiding abuse.