That doesn't sound like it's going to be a stable API? I'm not sure there is much you can do though.
Edit: yea after looking at this, it definitely appears to violate the TOS. Also this seems like a huge red flag just begging reddit to shut it down: "Unlike with the Reddit API you do not need to authenticate using OAuth."
IANAL but my understanding is that violating the ToS is only ever a problem if your crawler decides to "sign-in", as that constitutes agreeing to the terms of the ToS.
Further, old.reddit.com doesn't gate any content (even NSFW stuff) behind a sign-in page (at least for now)
> IANAL but my understanding is that violating the ToS is only ever a problem if your crawler decides to "sign-in"
Where on earth would you get that impression?
From the reddit ToS: "To use certain features of our Services, you may be required to create a Reddit account (an “Account”) and provide us with a username, password, and certain other information about yourself as set forth in the Privacy Policy."
NB: "Certain features", that clearly means that features are not gated by sign in, and that the ToS also applies to them.
Also from the Tos: "
Except and solely to the extent such a restriction is impermissible under applicable law, you may not, without our written agreement:
license, sell, transfer, assign, distribute, host, or otherwise commercially exploit the Services or Content;
modify, prepare derivative works of, disassemble, decompile, or reverse engineer any part of the Services or Content; or
access the Services or Content in order to build a similar or competitive website, product, or service, except as permitted under the Reddit API Terms of Use."
And later: "Access, search, or collect data from the Services by any means (automated or otherwise) except as permitted in these Terms or in a separate agreement with Reddit (we conditionally grant permission to crawl the Services in accordance with the parameters set forth in our robots.txt file, but scraping the Services without Reddit’s prior consent is prohibited)"
My point wasn't that scraping reddit is not a violation of the ToS, it was that you're not able to legally enforce the terms of the ToS (that you have quoted in your reply) on people who haven't agreed/consented to them (which they do by logging in).
Even if I were to agree with your interpretation (and I absolutely do not), this is still plain jane mass copyright infringement. The submitters have given reddit a sublicense to publish their content, not random 3rd parties.
> The submitters have given reddit a sublicense to publish their content, not random 3rd parties.
This is tangential no? Third party reddit apps _already_ republish end user content.
I'm not saying third party apps powered by scraping are not illegal, I'm saying they're _no more_ illegal than those powered by the official reddit API.
Question: if someone, using the internet, gains access to your personal computer, but doesn't add anything or delete anything, have they committed a crime?
Interesting. I just did a quick read. The CFAA protects computer data and is limited to data in which the federal government has a legal interest; data of financial institutions; and perhaps some additional specifically enumerated parties. Its reach is further limited to the theft and subsequent use of data that causes specified types of harm.
So, while it almost certainly would not apply to our personal computers, I think it would probably apply to most commercial companies (provided they were large enough to constitute commercial commerce and provided data was used in a manner explicitly enumerated by the statute)
Edit: yea after looking at this, it definitely appears to violate the TOS. Also this seems like a huge red flag just begging reddit to shut it down: "Unlike with the Reddit API you do not need to authenticate using OAuth."