Blog homeYes it is getting a bit out of hand….. far too many posts about screen scraping - which is funny - as a month ago I was writing too much about cruise websites!
Anyway, as one of the biggest online travel stories this year I guess it deserves the coverage it has got so far. Here, for those struggling to keep up (which includes me), are the best articles about it to date:
Discussion
- Is screen scraping ethical? - I think not - and several comments liken screen scraping to hacking
- Ryanair - an apology - where I point out that the travel industry is like a hornets nest - every one is as bad as each other - so Ryanair don’t deserve the negative press they are getting. I also apologise to consumers for the chaos it is creating.
- The long term impact on all other supplier websites - as consumers start to believe that booking directly is the only safe way to book. This article also explains what screen scraping is all about.
Law
- Is your website a database? If so, this may offer some legal protection from screen scraping
News
- List of travel websites screen scraping Ryanair (according to them!). Travolution also published the full list and has some comments worth reading.
Not just Ryanair
- EasyJet warns Expedia about screen scraping their website - which comes from an interesting article found on The Register
The best statement from Ryanair is this PDF document. It contains the full argument that they have put forward to the European Union. Well worth a read.
Ummm….. this could run and run!
If you have seen some great articles please add them as comments below!
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this is a follow-up to the easyjet story above:
Travolution EasyJet article
I’ve written a blog post from a consumers perspective.
Interesting comments left from a few travel agencies too.
Ryanair confuses consumers over third-party bookings