As google is not issuing new SOAP API keys how we can get backlink count and indexed pages count. Can we use fopen, curl or sockets to query google.com search results and grab data from "Results 1 - 10 of about 7,440..." string? Is it legal in the absence of new SOAP API keys or there is new API?
No need to get or use old deprecated SOAP API. Google AJAX API is much better and easy to use. Visit the link posted by bdude and you will find all what you need.