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antiscraping

Antiscraping refers to a set of techniques and practices employed by websites to detect and prevent automated access to their data and services. The goal is to protect proprietary content, reduce server load, preserve user privacy, and deter data harvesting for competitive or malicious purposes. Anti-scraping measures are distinct from the act of scraping itself, which is the programmatic collection of data from the web.

Common techniques include rate limiting, blocking of IPs and known proxies, and denial of requests that originate

Implementation typically combines client- and server-side checks, with access granted through legitimate channels such as approved

Challenges include false positives that block real users, performance overhead, and the ability of sophisticated actors

from
suspected
automation.
Websites
may
require
JavaScript
execution,
render
dynamic
content,
or
use
fingerprinting
to
identify
browsers.
Additional
methods
include
behavioral
analysis
of
interaction
patterns,
challenge-response
tests
such
as
CAPTCHAs,
and
mandatory
API
authentication
tokens.
Network-layer
protections
and
honeypots
are
sometimes
used
as
well.
APIs
or
contractual
terms.
Robots.txt
is
a
commonly
referenced
standard,
but
it
is
not
legally
binding.
Legal
and
regulatory
considerations
vary
by
jurisdiction
and
can
involve
contract
law,
copyright,
and
data-protection
rules.
to
bypass
defenses
with
headless
browsers
or
proxy
networks.
Ethical
considerations
emphasize
transparency,
fair
use,
and
avoiding
measures
that
impede
accessibility
or
research.
Organizations
should
document
policy,
provide
legitimate
data
access
paths,
and
periodically
review
defenses.
See
also
anti-bot
measures,
bot
management,
and
data
protection
strategies.