NAL, but my understanding is that the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act[1] is what governs this. Essentially unauthorized access to a system is unlawful and authoriz

NAL, but my understanding is that the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act[1] is what governs this. Essentially unauthorized access to a system is unlawful and authorization can be conditioned on using the system in a certain way, like, for example, not crawling it. Merely having a server openly serving data is no more of a justification for unauthorized access than leaving a door unlocked is justification for burglary. Edit: This is also why you should never evade a ban. It's potentially a federal felony. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_Fraud_and_Abuse_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_Fraud_and_Abuse_Act