[BoorishBears]

I used their previously available bot detection defeat to add an import feature to my website: Users could link to their creation on another site and my site would scrape the publicly available content so they wouldn't need to re-enter all their data

I've used their product many times actually, and I'm shocked on Hacker News of all places no one's thinking of anything besides abuse. How often is it useful to get information from a webpage and apply it in a new context? Then think of how often said webpage is behind a Cloudflare bot detector.

[daemonw]

If it's the user's data, then under GDPR the other site is obligated to provide a way for them to download/transfer it, specifically with this use case in mind.

They are completely in the right to block you though, you're not the owner of that data, you might be breaking their TOS.

[mrmanner]

“ In exercising his or her right to data portability pursuant to paragraph 1, the data subject shall have the right to have the personal data transmitted directly from one controller to another, where technically feasible.”

They’re not necessarily in the right to block you, if you’re the data subject or acting on their behalf.

[BoorishBears]

This is non-sequitur to my comment:

- GDPR doesn't require it be a convenient export. Users want to paste a link on my site, a click a button, and have it magically appear. Not fill out a form, dump their entire account and sift through that.

- I never opined on the validity of blocking bots

- I never opined on if it's breaking their TOS

Abuse implies a harmfulness. Giving users a quick import option from already public data isn't harmful.

[yjftsjthsd-h]

> If it's the user's data, then under GDPR the other site is obligated to provide a way for them to download/transfer it, specifically with this use case in mind.

In Europe, if the company is actually following the law, in theory yes.

> They are completely in the right to block you though, you're not the owner of that data, you might be breaking their TOS.

IANAL, but AIUI that's definitely not true in the United States and I suspect similar ideas hold elsewhere: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HiQ_Labs_v._LinkedIn

[Klonoar]

There are a litany of posts on this very site that detail why HiQ vs LinkedIn is more nuanced than you're making it out to be. HiQ didn't ultimately have the slam dunk win that people think they did.