LOL, sure

I was actually thinking the same thing just after I hit reply

So, how does it differ then from FF + AdBlock Plus + Greasemonkey then?

It's quite of a gray area, but unless the target website specifically condemns such usage of their web site, I think you are pretty much in the clear

Im assuming the same here too actually, that if they dont state any such intellectual property rights on their page then its safe to query their website with our app created queries.

Since this is a grey area , hence the thread.
My intention of raising a thread was to be sure we know what we are doing when creating such apps, was hoping to get some more concrete information actually, maybe there are people around who may have created apps like ive described and/or have done their homework for this to share it here with us.
examples would definetely help.

Well, you can always use the old argument of guns not killing people - people kill people (tho the gun certainly helps ), that has been used as an excuse of many developers of somewhat questionable applications.

Your app won't be, ehm, stealing data from any site - users will. And good luck to the authorities for chasing individual users, if that were possible, piracy wouldn't exist.

It is just like everything else. What is dubious and should be illegal is receiving monetary compensation or consideration of any value from the fruits of some one else's labor or established intellectual property.

HTML is the original "Free and Open Source" code and should remain so. Many have "scraped" or linked directly to other peoples content in order to by-pass un-needed information or to format the information for a different platform.
I do it all the time and store my efforts locally on my tablet and/or N900.


Now if I charged money for these pages or apps which use this content or included the code in a page on my website that I receive revenue from different ads and such, I should pay the producer for his efforts or expect to be held liable.

(This of course is a bit simplified for the sake of this discussion. Other liabilities exist such as altering trademarks and what not.)

If someone was using my data there are ways to obscure it, but others will always find a way to use it. It is easy however to track this use, and lawyers who are willing to serve, are piled up like cord wood outside the doors.

This system has worked since the Romans ruled the world and as far as I'm concerned it is not broken. HTML should always remain open.

One of my peeves when the iPhone first came out was in it's intent to upset this order by requiring content to be specifically formatted for its platform. This model of theirs has changed since its introduction because users demanded more... and that's a good thing.

On the plus side though, Apples model has kept legal fracases over content behind the doors of their app store where makers of the many different iFart apps can argue over who was first, or who's fart is the nastiest.

Meh...
I don't care, and have been happily pulling and using content from sites like Paul's Weather Page since I first cobbled together a windows socket back in the day .

Edited Update:
When I lived in the Bay Area I first started to go to Paul's page in order to quickly find needed information like "Will my campsite be flooded this week-end." or just knowing what clothes to pack for a short trip. Viewing the source code from his page back then and using it to experiment with variations on my own pages is what taught me how to use HTML in the first place.

For those who can remember back in the day, most information was only available via FTP so pulling and posting via HTML was a service for those who didn't have, or were not inclined to access it via Archie, Gopher, Veronica and Jughead . Also, there were only about 3,500 pages available then to use as a reference. Some of us even met up on the weekend in places like the parking lot of Fry's in Fremont, or the Point in Saucalito to swap code saved to floppies or written down on pieces of paper. It was truly a small world then.

This thread prompted some reminiscing (thank you). As a result I was just cruisin' his site where I came up with the following posting when I clicked on one of his links.

Unfortunately that^ was posted almost 3 years ago and sadly it is often the outcome when people become overly protective of even publicly sponsored data.
A good idea and useful service becomes stifled and the common man ends up with a soggy sleeping bag wearing the wrong dang shoes.

LOL, that post was good read YoDude !

just called up a website that I wanted to access through an app.
I mentioned all the kind words and the max that I could credit them with is a free mention of them in my free app

they said they would look into it and get back.

somehow i feel better now that i called them, this got me so hassled , though I know its not right to keep data unshareable which is accessed by the public for the public .