I was just wondering if databases could be stolen? If a site has a database of.. lets say car rental listings, is it possible to snatch it and place it into your own database easily?
You can screen scrape them using php pretty easily. 100% illegal to do it though and you better hope they don't spot your IP in their logs.
Just wondering because someone claimed they could do it. What if the info is 100% the same from other sites in this domain/topic/area ? We're all given the same info, but we don't have a database version of it..
Just to clarify what I believe mad4 has said : scraping is not illegal because it is published material it is meant to be scraped either by humans or robots. Republishing that material MAY be illegal, and it likely is, but there are many situations where screen scraping and publishing that material elsewhere is perfectly legal. It all depends on your agreement with the database owner. Most affiliate programs allow you to scrape their database and republish with the purpose of selling their stuff. Also, most affiliates provide a "data feed" which you can use and therefore not have to "steal" it. Hope this helps.
Yes. Scraping without the consent of the copyright holder is illegal. If you have their consent its OK. If a site owner takes the time to build a database from information freely available on the web and then somebody steals the data then they would be able to take legal action against you as long as they can prove where you got the data from.
Thanks for the clairification. Is this process hard to complete? How long would it take and cost? I'm just wondering because someone proposed that they could do this for our new site rather than punching in all 1000's listings which costs even more..
It would either be free in the case of a merchant site giving data to affilaites or it would cost a LOT. With all the concerns about duplicate content I wouldn't sell any of my databases for less than the amount I would sell the site for. Its just not worth it.
True... we need to avoid placing all of the listings manually as much as possible but we also need to do things legally (its a professional site). As for databases, how do we create this? Can a programmer design a database where we can simply upload pictures and add in information for the listings easily.. and it'll appear on the site? How hard is this to do? How long would it take (roughly) and how much would it cost? Thank you for your responses so far!
I am interested in setting up a similar database to the one you are describinmg for drop shipping. When I register with the supplier they have the information to list available but I don't know how to set up the database nor to install the payment system. I am in the process of setting up a Linux server to hold the site but can't put it up live until I increase security on my broadband connection. I'm considering using the livebox from Orange / Wanado as I am already with Orange and they also offer cheap calls with it. Does anyone have experience that might help me or woudl I be better off paying the £125 to get an off the shelf site from the supplier with payment system installed? If I get this though I still need to host it, is this easy on my own server? Paul
If there's a way to get it installed already into your site, I would go for it (£125 is not a lot!). I'm not sure about the server though.. I'm new at this
I would never recommend buying your own server until your site is serving at least 10,000 page views per day. Whats wrong with shared hosting?
I got the server and software cheap, I already have it at home, but I was wondering the best way to connect it securely. I know my wireless network is not currently secure but I turn it off when not in use, both the router and the PC. Putting the server up means I have to leave the router on all the time as well as the server. I have a site hosted at the moment, one which I purchased not set up myself, I have something called 2222 access and site admin through an admin panel the designer set up. The problem I have is I never know when there is going to be down time nor how long it will take to fix.I thought if I had my own it might not be more reliable but at least I woudl be able to get into it when it suits me. Plus I like learning and IT has been my thing for 20 years I've built my own PCs and all sorts but never done much myself online. http://eroticdirectorysite.com is the site I have purchased its not easy to add to so I'm looking at doing my own but keeping that one online until I decide I have too much to handle and sell it on. Please down check it if you are offended by adult material it does need some work which I haven't realy worked hard on. It is non-profit making but has a large database of adult oriented sites. I intend to use it to advertise other sites I have a number already ongoing. Paul
Thanks for the advice Mad 4 I decided on shared hosting, its so much easier now I have a number of sites and am still building the portfolio