> A webmaster can deny any kind of access they don't want by just not serving to them
You’d think that but Microsoft just lost a lawsuit over some company scraping LinkedIn that they tried to block.
You’d think that but Microsoft just lost a lawsuit over some company scraping LinkedIn that they tried to block.
Or more plainly, it's the webmaster's own responsibility to "just not serve" if they don't want it to be served, and their failure to implement their own desires as software doesn't suddenly give them carte blanche to claim whatever they want was breaking the law.
In this case, the data is effectively public. Sure you have to "tell them your name" and "agree to ToS", but neither of those requirements are binding the applicant to tell the truth. So Microsoft chose a method of authorization that is unfit for the purpose of keeping people they don't want to have access out of their system. "But but but how else would they keep people off?" I don't know, but it doesn't matter. Make people sign a contract under supervision of a notary, or validate their drivers license, or whatever. The fact that Microsoft is too lazy to implement a solution that effectively implements their desired policy isn't material to what the actually implemented policy enables.