Re: Services_IMDB ??

Kevin van Zonneveld wrote: > Hi (Helgi, thanks for your thoughts), > > On 5/19/07, Helgi Þormar <helgith@gmail.com> wrote: >> Hi >> >> On 5/19/07, Kevin van Zonneveld <kevmaster@gmail.com> wrote: > >> > But i would first like to know if there are any objections against >> > such a piece of code, considering e.g. the IMDB terms of use? Or are >> > those issues entirely up to the end user/programmer, and is it okay to >> > have that code in pear. >> >> And the terms of use are ? For those of us that don't want to read >> through >> it all :) > > I think the most interesting parts of their terms are: > > "Robots and Screen Scraping: You may not use data mining, robots, > screen scraping, or similar data gathering and extraction tools on > this site, except with our express written consent as noted below." > > "We do allow the limited use of robots and crawlers, such as those > from certain search engines, with our express written consent. If you > are interested in receiving our express written permission to use > robots or crawlers on our site, please contact our Licensing > Department." > > (full terms @ http://www.imdb.com/help/show_article?conditions) > > Maybe I can just include their terms in my code, and leave it up to > the end user whether or not and under what conditions to use the code. > IMO that'd make it a big NO. Unless IMDB comes up with its own web service API with associated Terms & Conditions (which I haven't look if they do) I don't see that package as a good candidate for PEAR. Anyway, screen scrappers are usually a nightmare to maintain and prone to breaking easily. I don't think PEAR should host "enabler" packages, and obviously using such a package require the user to break the T's & C's. -Philippe