Are you talking about Aaron Swartz? There were complicating factors. Typically, no, scraping is not a criminal matter. If you need a lawyer, however, you should talk to one.
> Automated scraping is unlikely to qualify as fair use in court.
Scraping is not [usually] the problem. It is what you do with the scraped content that is the problem. Additionally, the nature of the scraped content itself is at issue: facts are not copyrightable, for instance, just particular expressions.
Fair use is a hugely, hugely complex topic. If you ever ask someone if something is fair use and they give you a straight "yes" or "no" answer - don't trust it unless they are also showing you a court decision that covers your exact scenario and is valid in your jurisdiction. Any good answer will include a healthy does of "it depends."
The only way to conclusively determine if something is fair use is going through the fair use "run-time" - which is a court decision on the topic. There is no other way - none - to determine if something is fair use and claims to the contrary are false. To be clear: fair use is a judicial determination and it is highly fact specific.
Disclaimer: I am a lawyer, but I am not your lawyer. If you need one, you should get one.