Ethical Scraping: A Conversation with Rayobyte’s Neil Emeigh

I sat down recently with Neil Emeigh, CEO of Rayobyte, to discuss one of his favorite subjects: ethical scraping. According to Emeigh, Ethical scraping refers to the practice of collecting consumer data in a way that is respectful of users’ privacy and legal rights. He explained, “At Rayobyte, we believe that ethical data collection is a crucial part of the tech industry, and we’re proud to offer our products in a way that reflects this belief. When we source proxies, we always do so with the user’s knowledge and consent. We also ensure that the scraped data is used for legitimate purposes. Our goal is to provide each individual customer with a truly ethical and reliable experience and in return, we also require them to scrape within the legal boundaries of the United States. That legality often doesn’t permit the collection of consumer data that is protected by logins, and we also don’t allow such use cases ourselves.”

The rest of the conversation went like this:

Q:           How does the legality of web scraping affect the collection of consumer data?
A:            The legality of web scraping can have a significant impact on the collection of consumer data. In many cases, the collection of data through web scraping can be legal, as long as it is done in a way that respects users’ privacy and follows relevant laws and regulations. However, there are also cases where web scraping can be illegal, such as when it violates copyright, trademark, or other intellectual property laws, or when it violates anti-spam or anti-fraud laws.

At Rayobyte, we take the legality of web scraping very seriously, and we make sure that our customers follow all relevant laws and regulations when collecting consumer data. However, the legal landscape around web scraping is an evolving one, and we work closely with our customers to ensure that they are aware of any major legal changes.

Q:           What is the role of proxy services in ensuring ethical web scraping practices are followed?

A:            That’s a great question! I want to say proxy services play a crucial role in ensuring that ethical web scraping practices are followed by our customers. We can enforce ethical web scraping practices by providing our customers with clear guidelines and terms of service that outline what is considered ethical web scraping. This includes avoiding overloading a website with too many requests, respecting website terms of use, and making sure not to collect data outside publicly available sources.

What makes Rayobyte different is we go the extra mile to monitor our customers’ scraping activities and take appropriate actions if we detect any illegal behavior. This includes terminating service or blocking IP addresses if a customer is found to be engaging in illegal or unethical web scraping practices.

Overall, our role as a proxy service provider is to ensure that our customers can access data in a legal and ethical manner while protecting the privacy and security of internet users. We take pride in our commitment to ethical web scraping practices and strive to promote these practices within the industry.

Q:           In your experience, why do current methods of web scraping often fail to protect consumer data?

A:            Well, you know, the thing is, some web scrapers just don’t play by the rules, and that can put consumer data at risk. It’s important to follow ethical scraping practices and use trusted data sources to avoid collecting inaccurate or irrelevant data. Another reason could be the lack of clear guidelines and standards in the industry, which can make it challenging to ensure that user data is being protected. This is why we are also actively working to build an initiative called EWDCI – Ethical Web Data Collection Initiative, with fellow ethical proxy providers.

Q:           What steps can consumers take to safeguard their data when it is being collected through web scraping?

A:            Assuming by “consumers,” you mean people like you and me, the regular people, we go to the internet every day and interact with each other on social media, search for stuff we need, and so on~ I’m not sure we can continue living the way we are if we get too protective about keeping all our data to ourselves. Of course, we should be wary about sharing any sensitive information, but we also shouldn’t become too protected that we hamper our daily lives. We have to accept that we live in an era of free flow of information and acknowledge that to enjoy the perks of this era, we also have to participate in it. The important thing, in my opinion, is to decentralize the data, so that a few monopolistic entities can’t govern that. By offering the infrastructure to scrape, we give the power back to people in the sense that the utilization of data becomes democratic, and more use cases continue to benefit us without necessarily hampering the existence of that data in web.

Q:           How can companies and individuals conducting web scraping ensure their practices are compliant with privacy laws and regulations?

A:            So, if you’re a company or individual conducting web scraping, it’s essential to ensure you’re following the rules when it comes to privacy laws and regulations. That means doing your homework and understanding what’s required of you in terms of consent, data security, and transparency. It’s also crucial to use reputable proxy sources that you can trust, so you know that your effort to maintain ethics isn’t wasted. As I said that the legal landscape of web scraping is definitely an evolving scenario, so continue to keep yourself updated as well.

A:            How do proxy services factor into the equation when it comes to making web scraping more ethical and privacy-sensitive?

Q:           As a proxy provider, Rayobyte takes a proactive approach to promote ethical and legal web scraping practices. We require our customers to fill out a thorough “know your customer” form before allowing them to use our proxies, and we use various forms of monitoring & user authentication to enforce our ethical and legal policies.

While this approach may result in losing some potential customers, and we’ve had a fair share of them, we believe that it’s important to maintain a high level of accountability and responsibility to protect user privacy and promote responsible use of our services. I encourage other proxy services to start gatekeeping the same way if they’re not already.

Q:           In your opinion, what are the future of web scraping and data privacy, and how will these fields continue to evolve?

A:            The industry is rather new, and more & more people are becoming aware of how they can utilize data and enable their businesses to grow exponentially. When we continue to find more use cases, of course, more and more privacy concerns may also arise, which, by the way, is something we will always encourage.

I think the next big step for the scraping world would be to have a properly defined ethical use case that doesn’t vary state by state. And we can also contribute to the dialogue should the legislators ask to help shape how the ethical world of scraping looks like, for everyone involved. The use of data continues to benefit humanity, and I sincerely believe there is a win-win situation we can find involving all stakeholders.

An example of such a solution is Cash Raven. A product we’ve recently been working with that allows users to ‘rent out’ their IP addresses when they are not using and enables them to earn passive income that generates from the users who happens to lease the idle internet.

I reckon more innovative solutions like this will continue to surface.

Q:           Can you provide any examples of companies or organizations that have successfully implemented ethical web scraping practices and maintained consumer privacy?

A:            I am proud to say that so far that has been all our customers. We have a zero-tolerance policy for anything shady and we constantly monitor how our proxies are being used. So that’s all of our customers.