>A website or server is property, just like land is. Accessing it is no different than accessing any other piece of property
What if I placed a sign on my lawn which said "Please, step on the grass!"? Would it still be trespassing?
You laid out a lot of opinions there as if they were facts. They are not. These issues are complex and are still being debated at levels higher than the HN comment section.
>What if I placed a sign on my lawn which said "Please, step on the grass!"? Would it still be trespassing?
No. Of course not. What exactly is your question?
>You laid out a lot of opinions there as if they were facts.
I didn't lay out any opinions. I relayed information that is available from Wikipedia and other sources and rephrased it into an HN comment. None of it is opinion. If you take issue with what my comment says, you can take it up with the courts that made the decisions that gave the information I posted.
>No. Of course not. What exactly is your question?
My point was that it's hardly as clear cut as a piece of land and you know it. You posted a link to W's Trespass of Chattels, which I think is funny because it exactly proves my point. From your link:
>...several companies have successfully used the tort to block certain people, usually competitors, from accessing their servers. Though courts initially endorsed a broad application of this legal theory in the electronic context, more recently other jurists have narrowed its scope. As trespass to chattels is extended further to computer networks, some fear that plaintiffs are using this cause of action to quash fair competition and to deter the exercise of free speech; consequently, critics call for the limitation of the tort to instances where the plaintiff can demonstrate actual damages.
It is not at all clear that what we're discussing here is a clear violation. It's very debatable and the law itself was never envisioned to apply to scraping websites (because they didn't exist yet!) It also goes on to say (in the US)
>One who commits a trespass to a chattel is subject to liability to the possessor of the chattel if, but only if,
>(a) he dispossesses the other of the chattel, or
>(b) the chattel is impaired as to its condition, quality, or value, or
>(c) the possessor is deprived of the use of the chattel for a substantial time, or
>(d) bodily harm is caused to the possessor, or harm is caused to some person or thing in which the possessor has a legally protected interest.
The only clause there which even begins to help your case is the 'value' part of clause b and, again, that's very debatable.
> you can take it up with the courts that made the decisions that gave the information I posted.
Decisions made by court A get overturned by court B all of the time. We'll see where it lands, but we're not there yet (again, my point!)
What if I placed a sign on my lawn which said "Please, step on the grass!"? Would it still be trespassing?
You laid out a lot of opinions there as if they were facts. They are not. These issues are complex and are still being debated at levels higher than the HN comment section.