Crucial Considerations: Legality & Ethics in Bangladesh
Posted: Sat May 24, 2025 3:21 am
This is paramount. While there isn't a specific "web scraping law" in Bangladesh, existing laws, international precedents, and ethical considerations apply:
Terms of Service (ToS): Most websites have ToS that explicitly prohibit automated scraping. Violating these can lead to legal action, IP blocking, or even lawsuits. Always check the website's ToS.
Copyright Law (Copyright Act, 2000 in Bangladesh): If you scrape and then republish copyrighted content (e.g., images, text, unique data), it could be a copyright infringement. Focus on factual, non-copyrightable data.
Privacy Laws (Digital Security Act, 2018 in el-salvador phone number list Bangladesh & potential future data protection laws): Extracting personal data (names, email addresses, phone numbers, location data) without consent or a legitimate basis can be problematic. Even if publicly available, the purpose of collection and processing matters. GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) is a global standard, and while not directly applicable in Bangladesh, adhering to its principles for data privacy is a good practice to avoid international legal issues if dealing with global data.
Consent: For personal data, explicit consent is often required for collection and processing for commercial purposes.
Publicly Accessible Data: Just because data is public doesn't mean you can use it indiscriminately for commercial gain.
Robots.txt: This file on a website tells crawlers (like search engines, or your scraper) which parts of the site they are allowed or forbidden to access. Always respect robots.txt.
Server Load: Scraping too aggressively can overload a website's servers, causing denial of service. This can lead to legal action (e.g., under Section 43 of the IT Act regarding unauthorized access to computer systems) and certainly an IP block.
Reputation: Unethical scraping can damage your business's reputation.
Recommendation for Bangladesh:
Be Cautious with Personal Data: Avoid scraping direct personal contact information unless explicitly provided for commercial use (e.g., a business directory where companies want to be contacted).
Focus on Business Information: Company names, addresses, industry, public website links are generally safer.
Respect ToS and Robots.txt: This is non-negotiable.
Consider APIs: If a website offers an API (Application Programming Interface), use it! It's the intended way to access their data and often comes with clear terms of use.
Prioritize Public Directories & Listings: These are often designed for information sharing.
Consult Legal Counsel: For large-scale scraping projects or when in doubt, consult a legal professional in Bangladesh specializing in cyber law and data privacy.
Terms of Service (ToS): Most websites have ToS that explicitly prohibit automated scraping. Violating these can lead to legal action, IP blocking, or even lawsuits. Always check the website's ToS.
Copyright Law (Copyright Act, 2000 in Bangladesh): If you scrape and then republish copyrighted content (e.g., images, text, unique data), it could be a copyright infringement. Focus on factual, non-copyrightable data.
Privacy Laws (Digital Security Act, 2018 in el-salvador phone number list Bangladesh & potential future data protection laws): Extracting personal data (names, email addresses, phone numbers, location data) without consent or a legitimate basis can be problematic. Even if publicly available, the purpose of collection and processing matters. GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) is a global standard, and while not directly applicable in Bangladesh, adhering to its principles for data privacy is a good practice to avoid international legal issues if dealing with global data.
Consent: For personal data, explicit consent is often required for collection and processing for commercial purposes.
Publicly Accessible Data: Just because data is public doesn't mean you can use it indiscriminately for commercial gain.
Robots.txt: This file on a website tells crawlers (like search engines, or your scraper) which parts of the site they are allowed or forbidden to access. Always respect robots.txt.
Server Load: Scraping too aggressively can overload a website's servers, causing denial of service. This can lead to legal action (e.g., under Section 43 of the IT Act regarding unauthorized access to computer systems) and certainly an IP block.
Reputation: Unethical scraping can damage your business's reputation.
Recommendation for Bangladesh:
Be Cautious with Personal Data: Avoid scraping direct personal contact information unless explicitly provided for commercial use (e.g., a business directory where companies want to be contacted).
Focus on Business Information: Company names, addresses, industry, public website links are generally safer.
Respect ToS and Robots.txt: This is non-negotiable.
Consider APIs: If a website offers an API (Application Programming Interface), use it! It's the intended way to access their data and often comes with clear terms of use.
Prioritize Public Directories & Listings: These are often designed for information sharing.
Consult Legal Counsel: For large-scale scraping projects or when in doubt, consult a legal professional in Bangladesh specializing in cyber law and data privacy.