Weird take, but I see this sort of thing show up a lot, so let's give it a shot: > If, for example, I start scraping all the articles on a newspaper’s web site

Weird take, but I see this sort of thing show up a lot, so let's give it a shot: > If, for example, I start scraping all the articles on a newspaper’s web site, publish them on a web site, adding my own ads Using a Q-Tip to murder someone is illegal. We don't have special laws against it—it's just that murder is illegal, we have criminal punishment for murder, and the ordinary machinery of the courts and the law is sufficient to handle any instances of murder by Q-Tip. Because it being done with a Q-Tip is the least important part. If you're scraping and republishing someone else's content, it's not the scraping part that's the problem.