logoalt Hacker News

oasisbobtoday at 4:56 AM0 repliesview on HN

> Data can't be "stolen", only copied

Though, scrapers can certainly steal capacity through conversion for their own use. When they do so, they permanently deprive the site owner and other users the beneficial use of that capacity at that time.

I'm speaking morally, not legally. Though, in the US at least, there are parallels with free newspapers. You're allowed to take one for free. It's not legal to clear the whole rack.