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I completely disagree on 2 levels: First, teachers shouldn’t be teaching morals. Specially in college and university. The slippery slope between morals to poli

I completely disagree on 2 levels: First, teachers shouldn’t be teaching morals. Specially in college and university. The slippery slope between morals to politics is a dangerous one. I rather them focusing on their actual course materials Finally, there is nothing wrong with scrapping on ethical standpoint if you don’t DDOS the target services. It gave us search engines. And that’s probably one of most important breakthrough for humanity in the past few decades.

ralusek 7y ago
I agree completely. Unfortunately, not only are teachers currently teaching morals, those in the social sciences teach a radical political position, as well as advocate heavily for activism. It's completely inappropriate, and I can't believe that the institutions they're employed by seem to be complacent at best, responsible at worst.
avian 7y ago
The question obviously came up during their teaching, so it's become part of the course, whether they want it or not. OP also says that their peers think there are ethical questions in regard to scraping. I don't see where you see politics in how they handle such questions. I'm not advocating they go on an extended lecture about their personal views on the political system that made the laws and what not. I'm saying that there's a difference between handling these kind of questions with "if you're not sure, maybe you should kindly ask the publisher of the data if they would be ok with you scraping/using it that way" and "if your lawyer says you're in the clear, fuck them and scrape away."
- hartator 7y ago
  The OP asked explicitly about legality not ethics. So no ethis didn't came up organically.
luckylion 7y ago
> First, teachers shouldn’t be teaching morals. Specially in college and university. The slippery slope between morals to politics is a dangerous one. I rather them focusing on their actual course materials I disagree 100%. "To teach about the human anatomy, we've kidnapped Paul here, and will now cut him apart." It's great for teaching (how better to observe what happens when you cut open a living person than ... cutting open a living person), but it's unethical (and illegal), and that's an important lesson as well.
malshe 7y ago
Although I agree with your point about policitcs, in case of ethics, I don't take an extreme stance. I certainly discuss the ethical issues surrpounding certain practices but I refrain from preaching them what they should be doing. People should be aware of the ethical concerns of others, in particular when the issues are fast evolving.
xtiansimon 7y ago
Hmmm. I wonder if you made a false dichotomy, relevant moral issues VS. course materials. That said, I appreciate the distinction of morals and ethics. I understand ethics in the domain of 'what is good' and morals in the domain of 'what is good in society'. Fair Use suggests its ethical to use published materials for educational purposes. Whereas morals ask if what you're actually doing with the data is good for society.

ralusek 7y ago

I agree completely. Unfortunately, not only are teachers currently teaching morals, those in the social sciences teach a radical political position, as well as advocate heavily for activism. It's completely inappropriate, and I can't believe that the institutions they're employed by seem to be complacent at best, responsible at worst.

avian 7y ago

The question obviously came up during their teaching, so it's become part of the course, whether they want it or not. OP also says that their peers think there are ethical questions in regard to scraping. I don't see where you see politics in how they handle such questions. I'm not advocating they go on an extended lecture about their personal views on the political system that made the laws and what not. I'm saying that there's a difference between handling these kind of questions with "if you're not sure, maybe you should kindly ask the publisher of the data if they would be ok with you scraping/using it that way" and "if your lawyer says you're in the clear, fuck them and scrape away."

hartator 7y ago
The OP asked explicitly about legality not ethics. So no ethis didn't came up organically.

luckylion 7y ago

> First, teachers shouldn’t be teaching morals. Specially in college and university. The slippery slope between morals to politics is a dangerous one. I rather them focusing on their actual course materials I disagree 100%. "To teach about the human anatomy, we've kidnapped Paul here, and will now cut him apart." It's great for teaching (how better to observe what happens when you cut open a living person than ... cutting open a living person), but it's unethical (and illegal), and that's an important lesson as well.

malshe 7y ago

Although I agree with your point about policitcs, in case of ethics, I don't take an extreme stance. I certainly discuss the ethical issues surrpounding certain practices but I refrain from preaching them what they should be doing. People should be aware of the ethical concerns of others, in particular when the issues are fast evolving.

xtiansimon 7y ago

Hmmm. I wonder if you made a false dichotomy, relevant moral issues VS. course materials. That said, I appreciate the distinction of morals and ethics. I understand ethics in the domain of 'what is good' and morals in the domain of 'what is good in society'. Fair Use suggests its ethical to use published materials for educational purposes. Whereas morals ask if what you're actually doing with the data is good for society.