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> Giving them the option to sue an upstart for doing exactly the same thing as Google is unfair and oligopolistic. But it's not. LinkedIn's data is their enti

> Giving them the option to sue an upstart for doing exactly the same thing as Google is unfair and oligopolistic. But it's not. LinkedIn's data is their entire business. They are within their rights to restrict access to it. This is the classic ant and grasshopper story. If HiQ wants access to the type of data they are scraping from LinkedIn, they can build that data themselves.

mywittyname 9y ago
They are within their right to require authorization to their content, yes, but they don't do that. They make it public and allow some companies to scrape that content and resell it for profit (like Google), but while restricting other companies from doing the same. If they don't want their data to be public, then they shouldn't make it public. They could require authorization to view any content on the site and solve this problem instantly.
- debacle 9y ago
  What leads you to believe that LinkedIn's data is public?
  - int_handler 9y ago
    I believe mywittyname is specifically referring to the LinkedIn profile pages that are publicly visible without requiring a login and is not claiming that all LinkedIn's data is public. Thus, the question is why doesn't LinkedIn simply hide all profile data behind user authentication?
int_19h 9y ago
> But it's not. LinkedIn's data is their entire business. "There has grown in the minds of certain groups in this country the idea that just because a man or corporation has made a profit out of the public for a number of years, the government and the courts are charged with guaranteeing such a profit in the future, even in the face of changing circumstances and contrary to public interest. This strange doctrine is supported by neither statute or common law. Neither corporations or individuals have the right to come into court and ask that the clock of history be stopped, or turned back." > If HiQ wants access to the type of data they are scraping from LinkedIn, they can build that data themselves. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feist_Publications,_Inc.,_v._Rural_Telephone_Service_Co https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feist_Publications,_Inc.,_v._R....

mywittyname 9y ago

They are within their right to require authorization to their content, yes, but they don't do that. They make it public and allow some companies to scrape that content and resell it for profit (like Google), but while restricting other companies from doing the same. If they don't want their data to be public, then they shouldn't make it public. They could require authorization to view any content on the site and solve this problem instantly.

debacle 9y ago
What leads you to believe that LinkedIn's data is public?
- int_handler 9y ago
  I believe mywittyname is specifically referring to the LinkedIn profile pages that are publicly visible without requiring a login and is not claiming that all LinkedIn's data is public. Thus, the question is why doesn't LinkedIn simply hide all profile data behind user authentication?

int_19h 9y ago

> But it's not. LinkedIn's data is their entire business. "There has grown in the minds of certain groups in this country the idea that just because a man or corporation has made a profit out of the public for a number of years, the government and the courts are charged with guaranteeing such a profit in the future, even in the face of changing circumstances and contrary to public interest. This strange doctrine is supported by neither statute or common law. Neither corporations or individuals have the right to come into court and ask that the clock of history be stopped, or turned back." > If HiQ wants access to the type of data they are scraping from LinkedIn, they can build that data themselves. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feist_Publications,_Inc.,_v._Rural_Telephone_Service_Co https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feist_Publications,_Inc.,_v._R....