Ethics and the law: “white hat” parsing. How to collect data from websites without violating the law and rules (robots.txt, Terms of Service).

Web scraping (parsing) has come a long way from the "wild west" of the 2000s to a modern industry with clear standards. Today, data collection is the foundation for E-commerce, AI training, and marketing analytics.

But there is a nuance: websites regulate access to information. They use legal (Terms of Service) and technical traffic management tools.

How to collect information correctly? Where is the line between analytics and creating a critical load on the server? And why is compliance with robots.txt not just a matter of politeness, but a question of your business sustainability?

In this article, we will break down the standards of ethical data collection and the technical rules that will ensure the stable operation of your projects.

Part 1. What is "White Hat" Scraping?

"White hat" scraping is the collection of publicly available data in compliance with the rules of the donor site and the law.

Three principles of correct operation:

1. Data is public: You only work with open content. You take what is available to any visitor without special access rights.
2. You do not harm the site: Your script does not create a peak load on the server and does not interfere with the users' experience.
3. You do not violate copyright: You collect factual data (prices, characteristics), not protected content for republication.

Important nuance: Personal data processing is a strictly regulated sphere. GDPR applies in the EU, and 152-FZ in the RF. Collecting user data for unsolicited mailings is unacceptable and contradicts the standards of ethical scraping.

Part 2. Technical Etiquette: Robots.txt and User-Agent

Before you start collecting data, it is necessary to check the site's rules.

1. The robots.txt file: The Interaction Standard

This is a text file in the root of any website (site.com/robots.txt) containing instructions.

• What to look for there:
• User-agent: * — rules for all automated systems.
• Disallow: /admin/ — sections closed for scanning.
• Crawl-delay: 10 — recommended pause between requests (in seconds).

Is this a law? Legally, it depends on the jurisdiction. Should it be followed? Technically — absolutely. If there is a restriction in robots.txt and you ignore it, the site's monitoring systems may restrict access to the resource. The result is a lost connection.

2. User-Agent: Request Identification

Some scrapers use standard browser headers (e.g., Chrome/120.0...). In professional scraping, it is considered good practice to use your own User-Agent, which includes the bot owner's contact information.

• Example: MyPriceBot/1.0 (+http://mysite.com/bot-contact) This shows the site administrator who is collecting the data and provides an opportunity to contact you to optimize the load instead of a full subnet block.

Part 3. Legal Aspect: Terms of Service (ToS)

If robots.txt is a technical instruction, then Terms of Service is the set of conditions for use.

Special attention should be paid to data collection after authorization. By registering on the site and accepting the rules, you agree to the terms. If the rules restrict automated collection (as with many social platforms), using scripts inside an account can lead to access restrictions.

Possible consequences:

1. Account suspension.
2. Risk of claims for violation of the terms of use.

Recommendation: Focus on collecting public data without authorization. Factual information (prices, catalogs) in the public domain is usually not subject to copyright, which is confirmed by judicial practice (for example, the HiQ Labs vs LinkedIn case).

Part 4. Load Control: Rate Limiting

A frequent reason for losing access is not the data type, but the intensity of requests.

If you send hundreds of requests per second to a small site, it can create an emergency situation for its infrastructure.

Rules for correct operation:

1. Limit requests: Take pauses (sleep) between requests to the server.
2. Monitor response codes: If the site returns 429 Too Many Requests or 503 Service Unavailable — the script must pause operations and increase the delay interval. Continuing to send requests to an overloaded server is a technical error.
3. Plan your time: Collect data during the hours of lowest audience activity on the resource.

Part 5. Infrastructure: Proxies for Stable Access

When working with large datasets, intensive requests from a single IP address may be temporarily restricted by traffic management systems.

To ensure connection stability and correct load distribution, it is necessary to use professional proxies.

Which type to choose?

1. Datacenter Proxies: Suitable for processing open catalogs and websites with basic architecture. They provide high speed and minimal load on provider infrastructure.
2. Residential Proxies: Necessary for obtaining localized data. They allow you to perform requests with precise geographic targeting, receiving results relevant to a specific region (city or state).
3. Mobile Proxies: Crucial for working with mobile versions of websites and checking the correctness of content display on smartphones. They use IP addresses from cellular operators (3G/4G/5G), which ensures high session validity for services focused on mobile traffic.
4. Ethical point: Use only verified networks (Ethical Proxy Networks) operating within the legal framework.

In CyberYozh App, we provide high-quality infrastructure for professional tasks:

• IP Balancing (Rotation): For even distribution of requests.
• Precise Geo-targeting: For obtaining correct regional data.

Conclusion: Reliability is More Important Than Speed

Ethical scraping is a long-term development strategy. Neglecting technical standards and overloading target sites may yield short-term results, but will lead to the loss of the data source.

Follow the technical regulations, respect the donor's resources, and use reliable infrastructure. This is the only way to build a sustainable data business.

👉 Need stable access to data? Provide your project with a solid foundation. Choose suitable datacenter or residential proxies in the CyberYozh App catalog. We will help you scale your analytics while maintaining high quality standards.