Is crawling technology legal and is crawling illegal

When the crawler's behavior of crawling data has a serious impact on the target, and the crawling behavior is socially harmful, it is suspected of committing a crime.

Legal analysisIn the era of big data, user information and other data have long become the core competitive resources of all Internet enterprises. In a sense, to seize data is to seize customers and seize the market. As a result, there have been more and more disputes over data in recent years; In addition to collecting data from users, sharing it with third parties, and transferring, the common ways to obtain data are crawling data using crawlers.

Due to the basic principle of "technology neutrality", crawlers themselves are not prohibited by law and can collect public information. "Disclosure" refers to disclosure to the general public (everyone) without the specificity of the target audience; If the crawling object is the public information of the ** that provides public query services to the outside world, it does not constitute infringement or crime, and can be scraped; All kinds of businesses that do not set up anti-crawling statements or take anti-crawling technical measures generally do not restrict crawling data, but it does not mean that they can be scraped at will.

Legal basisCriminal Law of the People's Republic of China" Article 286: Where state provisions are violated by deleting, modifying, adding, or interfering with the functions of computer information systems, causing computer information systems to fail to operate normally, and the consequences are serious, a sentence of up to five years imprisonment or short-term detention is to be given; where the consequences are especially serious, the sentence is to be five or more years imprisonment. Where state provisions are violated by deleting, modifying, or adding to data or applications stored, processed, or transmitted in computer information systems, and the consequences are serious, punishment is to be given in accordance with the provisions of the preceding paragraph. Where computer viruses or other destructive programs are intentionally created or disseminated, impacting the normal operation of computer systems, and the consequences are serious, punishment is to be given in accordance with the provisions of the first paragraph.

Where a unit commits the crimes in the preceding three paragraphs, the unit is to be fined, and the directly responsible managers and other directly responsible personnel are to be punished in accordance with the provisions of the first paragraph. Article 286-1: In any of the following circumstances, where network service providers do not perform information network security management obligations provided for by laws or administrative regulations, and refuse to make corrections after being ordered to take corrective measures by the regulatory departments, they are to be sentenced to up to three years imprisonment, short-term detention or controlled release, and/or a fine: (1) causing a large amount of illegal information to be disseminated; (2) Causing user information to be leaked, causing serious consequences; (3) Causing the destruction of evidence in a criminal case, where the circumstances are serious; (4) There are other serious circumstances.

Where a unit commits the crime in the preceding paragraph, the unit is to be fined, and the directly responsible managers and other directly responsible personnel are to be punished in accordance with the provisions of the preceding paragraph. Where conduct in the preceding two paragraphs simultaneously constitutes other crimes, follow the provisions for the heavier punishment at trial and sentencing.

The crawler technology itself is legal, but the use of the crawler technology needs to comply with the relevant laws and regulations and the use of **. Generally speaking, it is legal if you use crawler technology to obtain public information and non-personal private information, and it does not infringe on the legitimate rights and interests of others. However, if you use crawler technology to obtain the personal privacy information of others, infringe on the legitimate rights and interests of others, or violate relevant laws and regulations and the use of **, it is illegal.

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Legal analysis: In the following three situations, crawlers may violate the law, and even constitute a crime

Crawlers circumvent the anti-crawler measures set by the operator or crack the anti-scraping measures of the server, and illegally obtain relevant information, and if the circumstances are serious, it may constitute the crime of "illegally obtaining computer information system data".

If the crawler interferes with the normal operation of the accessed ** or the system, and the consequences are serious, it violates the criminal law and constitutes the crime of "destroying computer information systems".

If the information collected by the crawler is citizens' personal information, it may constitute an illegal act of illegally obtaining citizens' personal information, and if the circumstances are serious, it may constitute the crime of "infringing on citizens' personal information".

Legal basis: Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China

Article 285 Whoever violates State regulations by intruding into computer information systems in the fields of State affairs, national defense construction, or cutting-edge science and technology shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years or short-term detention.

Where state provisions are violated by invading computer information systems other than those provided for in the preceding paragraph or employing other technical means to obtain data stored, processed, or transmitted in that computer information system, or by illegally controlling the computer information system, and the circumstances are serious, a sentence of up to three years imprisonment or short-term detention is to be given, and/or a fine; where the circumstances are especially serious, the sentence is between three and seven years imprisonment and a concurrent fine.

Where programs or tools are provided specifically for the purpose of invading or illegally controlling computer information systems, or providing programs or tools to others while clearly knowing that they are committing illegal or criminal acts of invading or illegally controlling computer information systems, and the circumstances are serious, punishment is to be given in accordance with the provisions of the preceding paragraph.

Where a unit commits the crimes in the preceding three paragraphs, the unit is to be fined, and the directly responsible managers and other directly responsible personnel are to be punished in accordance with the provisions of those paragraphs.

Article 253-1: Where relevant state provisions are violated by providing citizens' personal information to others** or to others, and the circumstances are serious, a sentence of up to three years imprisonment or short-term detention is to be given, and/or a fine; where the circumstances are especially serious, the sentence is between three and seven years imprisonment and a concurrent fine.

Legal analysis: The crawler itself is not illegal, but it is illegal to obtain other people's information after logging in, because these data are not open to tourists, and unilaterally only authorize internal members to view and browse, but it certainly does not give you the right to **.

Legal basis: Cybersecurity Law of the People's Republic of China

Article 7: The state is to actively carry out international exchanges and cooperation in areas such as cyberspace governance, research and development of network technologies, the formulation of standards, and the fight against cyber violations and crimes, promoting the building of a peaceful, secure, open, and cooperative cyberspace, and establishing a multilateral, democratic, and transparent network governance system.

Article 8: The state internet information departments are responsible for the overall planning and coordination of network security efforts and related oversight and management efforts. In accordance with the provisions of this Law and relevant laws and administrative regulations, the competent departments for telecommunications, public security departments, and other relevant organs are responsible for network security protection, oversight, and management efforts within the scope of their respective duties. The network security protection and oversight and management duties of the relevant local people's departments at the county level or above are to be determined in accordance with relevant state provisions.