> If you have a noble intent, you ask the webmaster for permission to use the data.
Is Marginalia opt in, then? Surely "not having a robots.txt" ("you didn't say no!") does not equal consent. And surely you could just ask all the webmasters you are scraping from for permission, since you have noble intent.
My point is that this is just hypocritical; you are placing the moral boundary right below what you are doing, while claiming moral superiority. If you ask others (e.g. anti-search Fediverse), they would think you are immoral too.
You really see no difference between following the robots exclusion standard, doing nothing to conceal your origins and intents, and respecting blocks when they appear; vs concealing your origins and intents, willfully ignoring the robots exclusion standard, and going to great lengths to circumvent IP blocks and other bot mitigation measures?
Is Marginalia opt in, then? Surely "not having a robots.txt" ("you didn't say no!") does not equal consent. And surely you could just ask all the webmasters you are scraping from for permission, since you have noble intent.
My point is that this is just hypocritical; you are placing the moral boundary right below what you are doing, while claiming moral superiority. If you ask others (e.g. anti-search Fediverse), they would think you are immoral too.