[dewey]

> there's no such thing as an ethically sourced residential proxy.

There is, just like you giving your attention and cpu to watch free ad supported content on the internet. It's the same in apps that give users access for free in return for bandwidth, or free VPNs that allow you to share bandwidth. There's also ISP "residential" proxies where ISPs re-sell some of their address space to proxy providers.

[baobabKoodaa]

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

[cruffle_duffle]

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]

"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]

Yeah, if that's your use case, why not just use a regular datacenter proxy?

[dewey]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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.