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So it's ethical to bypass bot restrictions and rate limits by pretending to be a bunch of residential connections?

dewey 1y ago
Not much different than blocking access to people without JS enabled, blocking people stuck behind NAT, blocking whole countries or require them to solve Cloudflare captchas.
- baobabKoodaa 1y ago
  What does any of this have to do with residential proxies? If you can't access a website because you have disabled JS, you won't be able to access that website with a residential proxy either.
  - dewey 1y ago
    I was referring to the fact that many websites block / force users to use the resource in a certain way, why shouldn't they in return have the right to bypass these restrictions.
    - baobabKoodaa 1y ago
      A residential proxy can not be used to bypass the restriction on JavaScript. Regarding the other items on your list, sure, a residential proxy could be used, but why do you need it? Why not a regular datacenter proxy?
      - dewey 1y ago
        This was a general statement, no need to nitpick every detail. DC proxies are not as accurate for geolocation, they are also often flagged as such or face higher scrutiny from bot protections.
        baobabKoodaa 1y ago
        Okay, sure, in theory someone could use a residential proxy to evade unjust blocking. Whether that has happened at any point in history or not, I'm not sure. In practice, the vast majority of residential proxy usage would be for other (non-ethical) purposes.
cruffle_duffle 1y ago
If it’s to enable users to fetch their own data, it’s absolutely ethical. These websites can offer API’s so people can access their own data “above the board” but instead make it incredibly difficult.
- hofrogs 1y ago
  "Users fetching their own data" is probably less than a hundredth of a percent of traffic passing through residential proxies, I'd even bet some money on that.
  - baobabKoodaa 1y ago
    Yeah, if that's your use case, why not just use a regular datacenter proxy?

Not much different than blocking access to people without JS enabled, blocking people stuck behind NAT, blocking whole countries or require them to solve Cloudflare captchas.

baobabKoodaa 1y ago
What does any of this have to do with residential proxies? If you can't access a website because you have disabled JS, you won't be able to access that website with a residential proxy either.
- dewey 1y ago
  I was referring to the fact that many websites block / force users to use the resource in a certain way, why shouldn't they in return have the right to bypass these restrictions.
  - baobabKoodaa 1y ago
    A residential proxy can not be used to bypass the restriction on JavaScript. Regarding the other items on your list, sure, a residential proxy could be used, but why do you need it? Why not a regular datacenter proxy?
    - dewey 1y ago
      This was a general statement, no need to nitpick every detail. DC proxies are not as accurate for geolocation, they are also often flagged as such or face higher scrutiny from bot protections.
      - baobabKoodaa 1y ago
        Okay, sure, in theory someone could use a residential proxy to evade unjust blocking. Whether that has happened at any point in history or not, I'm not sure. In practice, the vast majority of residential proxy usage would be for other (non-ethical) purposes.

cruffle_duffle 1y ago

If it’s to enable users to fetch their own data, it’s absolutely ethical. These websites can offer API’s so people can access their own data “above the board” but instead make it incredibly difficult.

hofrogs 1y ago
"Users fetching their own data" is probably less than a hundredth of a percent of traffic passing through residential proxies, I'd even bet some money on that.
- baobabKoodaa 1y ago
  Yeah, if that's your use case, why not just use a regular datacenter proxy?