Monthly Archives: October 2010

‘Scrapers’ Dig Deep for Data on Web

The Wall Street Journal, Page One

At 1 a.m. on May 7, the website PatientsLikeMe.com noticed suspicious activity on its “Mood” discussion board. There, people exchange highly personal stories about their emotional disorders, ranging from bipolar disease to a desire to cut themselves.

It was a break-in. A new member of the site, using sophisticated software, was “scraping,” or copying, every single message off PatientsLikeMe’s private online forums.

Read more at The Wall Street Journal and see the full What They Know series online.


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