If you are wondering about ethical considerations, you already know what web scraping is.
It is the basis for research, a source of insights for business, and a way to do a lot of tedious work in 5 minutes with a single script.
So... is web scraping ethical? It absolutely can be — if you know where the lines are.
If you approach scraping without sufficient preparation, you can not only get your IP addresses blacklisted, but also run into legal problems.
Now, let's figure out how to comply with ethics in data collection with respect for people, websites, and laws.
Just because data is publicly accessible doesn’t mean it’s ethically or legally yours for the taking. That’s the core of web scraping ethics. You're operating on someone else's infrastructure, collecting someone else’s content — and often, someone else’s personal information. So tread carefully.
Still not convinced? Here are three very real risks:
And that’s before we even get into the philosophical stuff — like how ethics in data collection affect user trust, industry standards, and the future of open access.
Here’s the thing: most platforms don’t hate scrapers. They hate uncontrolled scraping. If you’re transparent, respectful, and don’t overreach, you’ll be fine. But if you sneak around, ignore warnings, or hoard data, you’re asking for trouble.
Next, here are the key points of ethical web scraping that you should know.
The robots.txt file is a basic form of communication between website owners and crawlers. Found at domain.com/robots.txt, it tells bots where they’re welcome — and where they’re not.
A simple example:
User-agent: *
Disallow: /private/
This means: “Hey, bots — please avoid /private/.” Then it is up to the bot to decide whether to comply or not. Technically, robots.txt will not stop your script, but ignoring it is not a good idea from an ethical (and sometimes legal) standpoint.
robots.txt does not say, “You can parse everything that is not prohibited.” It says, “Here is what you definitely cannot do.” Following it shows you care about web scraping ethics and server health.
Important directives:
If you see Disallow: /, this means that scraping the site is completely prohibited. If Disallow: is without a path, this means that there are no restrictions. The main thing is not to lie about who you are. Don't pretend to be Googlebot. Specify an honest User-Agent so that the site understands who has come to it. This is the minimum sign of respect.
Some sites customize rules per bot:
User-agent: Googlebot
Disallow: /nogoogle/
User-agent: *
Disallow: /allbots/
If you're using a custom scraper, follow the * rules — and don’t pretend to be Googlebot.
Also: many crawlers don’t support Crawl-delay, but if you see it, honor it manually. That’s just being a good neighbor.
Bottom line: robots.txt is not a greenlight to scrape everything else. It’s a minimum boundary. If you’re ignoring it, you’re already in questionable territory on the web scraping ethics spectrum.
While robots.txt is a request, TOS (Terms of Service) is a contract — and breaking it can land you in legal trouble. By accessing the website, you automatically agree to its terms and conditions.
Many sites explicitly prohibit:
This means that even if the data is available without authorization, scraping it may violate the terms of use. This means that the website has the right to take legal action or block access.
TOS are enforceable contracts (assuming reasonable notice), and while a mere TOS breach isn’t a crime, it is a civil violation that can result in bans or lawsuits, and if combined with technical bypassing, it could escalate to “unauthorized access” in some cases
Some platforms are very protective. Facebook (now Meta), for example, has filed and won several lawsuits against scrapers.
In October 2020, Meta filed lawsuits against BrandTotal Ltd. and Unimania Inc., which used browser extensions to collect user data (names, IDs, gender, date of birth, relationship status, location, etc.) from Facebook, Instagram, and other social networks without permission and in violation of the terms of use.
The companies were forced to stop this practice and pay a significant fine as part of a pre-trial settlement.
Another landmark case is hiQ Labs v. LinkedIn:
hiQ Labs collected data from public LinkedIn profiles to analyze employment trends (retention, skills mapping, etc.). LinkedIn attempted to stop the scraping and sent notices of violation of the user agreement.
hiQ filed a lawsuit, claiming that the collection of public information was legal and did not violate the CFAA, a US federal law on computer fraud.
In 2019, the court ruled in favor of hiQ, stating that access to public profiles does not constitute “unauthorized access” under the CFAA.
However, the court later found a violation of LinkedIn's terms of use, and the case ended with a settlement agreement prohibiting parsing and requiring the destruction of the data.
Beyond lawsuits, you risk:
Web scraping legality isn’t just about what’s public — it’s about what you’re contractually allowed to do.
Both laws regulate how personal data can be collected, stored, and used.
Under GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), personal data includes anything that can identify a person: names, emails, IP addresses, photos, and even usernames. Public doesn’t mean unprotected. GDPR still applies if you scrape it.
The public nature of the data does not negate the obligation to comply with the law. If you collect such data, you are required to specify the purpose, minimize the volume, store it securely, and delete it after use. Otherwise, you risk hefty fines.
The CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act) is slightly less strict: it makes an exception for information that the user has made public themselves (e.g., a public Twitter post). But even in this case, the use of data must be in line with the user's reasonable expectations. Scraping private profiles or data from closed groups is definitely over the line.
Key rules:
If you're scraping without thinking about ethics in data collection, especially involving people, you're on thin ice.
PII (Personally Identifiable Information) includes names, email addresses, phone numbers, IP addresses, geolocation, social media accounts, photos, and videos.
All of this requires careful handling. And if there is also transfer to third parties, this is a potential cause for complaint.
There are also particularly sensitive categories of data: health, political views, ethnicity, and biometrics.
In 2023, several countries — the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and others — issued a joint statement: mass collection of data from public social media pages without consent may be considered a violation of the law. Especially if photos, comments, and other contextual information are involved.
And we need to mention an example from the AI-world.
Clearview AI collected billions of faces from open sources to train its facial recognition technology. The result was lawsuits and bans in the EU, Australia, and Canada. Even though the photos were “publicly available,” mass collection and a new purpose (identification) made it illegal.
The Dutch Data Protection Authority (DPA) fined Clearview AI €30.5 million for illegally collecting images of citizens and violating the GDPR.
Perfect proxies for accessing valuable data from around the world.
This is just a quick self-check.
Let’s say you're a data analyst scraping city government websites for public datasets:
That’s textbook ethical web scraping. Transparent, respectful, safe.
It is good practice to use the API if available. If the platform has an official way of obtaining data, it is better to choose it. It is more stable, ethical, and legally safer.
Now imagine this:
Even if you think your tool is “for good” (like helping recruiters or training an AI model), that’s a hard no from a web scraping ethics standpoint — and possibly illegal under GDPR or CCPA.
Technical details in addition to the checklist:
Ethical web scraping isn’t just about legality — it’s about not being that person. The one who ruins it for everyone else by hammering servers, violating privacy, or treating scraped info like free loot.
Respect robots.txt. Read user agreements. Don't go after data that is clearly not for you. Be especially careful with personal information. It's not just about the law but also about respect for people and the community as a whole.
If in doubt, it's probably better not to scrape. Or ask for permission. It's better to spend an extra hour checking and sticking to web scraping ethics, than months sorting things out.
Let’s say you’re a student, or a curious developer, creating a scraping project for data research “just for yourself” — with no plans to publish, share, or monetize the data. That does reduce some exposure, but it doesn’t eliminate risk.
So no — “for personal use” is not a get-out-of-jail-free card. When it comes to ethics in web data collection, it’s safest to treat every project as if it were going into production.
If you plan to use the scraped data in reports, dashboards, academic papers, or even to show your team, follow these best practices to stay within ethical web scraping boundaries:
Following these practices not only helps you comply with the law but also reinforces strong web scraping ethical considerations — especially in academic, nonprofit, and open data settings.
If you're browsing manually — no problem. But if you're using a bot or scraper, even without storing the output, you're still making automated requests. That means:
So yes, ethics in data collection apply even when you're “just looking.”
Yes, absolutely. Just because a website belongs to a public institution doesn’t mean it’s free of restrictions. Many government portals include:
Even public datasets can be subject to licensing terms, attribution requirements, or technical access constraints. Good web scraping ethics start with respecting those boundaries.
Sometimes search engines index pages even if robots.txt says Disallow: /. That could be due to outdated configurations, partial indexing, or manual overrides. But if the block is currently active, your scraper should treat it as binding.
Exceptions? Only in rare cases, like:
In all other cases, overriding robots.txt puts you in murky web scraping legality territory — not to mention it violates the core of ethical web scraping.
Common problem. Here's how to approach it without crossing ethical lines:
In extreme cases, you might fall back to screenshots, browser automation, or OCR — but only for private, non-disruptive use. If the data is protected, or behind logins, or includes personal details — scraping it without permission could violate both web scraping ethics and legal boundaries.