> Scraping is copying, which is an exclusive privilege of the copyright owner under copyright. Is it necessarily copying in a sense that is different from how

> Scraping is copying, which is an exclusive privilege of the copyright owner under copyright. Is it necessarily copying in a sense that is different from how a web browser acquires the resource to render it? For example, scraping data to derive some non-protected facts could be considered consumption in the same sense a human reading it via a client would, and doesn't require storing a copy any more permanently than a browser. Intent is probably a lot more important, legally, than the fact that you are technically copying something simply by "accessing" it in a browser. If you are scraping with the intent to extract and copy the copyright protected content, sure, that's a good point, but that's by no means the only use of scraping. Personally, and I understand that this isn't how it works legally, I think that the contract is implied by the protocol. I request copies of information by means of HTTP. If the distributor doesn't want me to have a copy, they can choose not to respond with a copy. I never make a copy in that case: the server is, hence I have not reproduced the work. It's not me taking a book to a photocopier, it's me calling the publisher and asking them to send me a copy of page 237.