Brent Horman is a Commissioner at the Office of the Data Protection Authority and will be leading talks on international efforts to “curb unlawful data scraping”.

What is ‘data scraping’? 

Data scraping is the action of taking public data from the internet and either storing it or reutilising elsewhere online. 

Several programs can be used to automatically scrape data from the internet. While these programs will pull from publicly available information, this data is still covered by privacy laws and those who choose to operate automatic scraping programmes need to comply with various laws. 

The ODPA signed a joint statement with several jurisdictions identifying the key risks of data scraping, the importance of privacy, and what individuals can do to minimise the harms of scraping. 

In a statement the ODPA said: “Through this joint initiative, the Data Protection signatories have been engaging with global social media platforms to ensure they have sufficient safeguards in place to protect their billions of users from unlawful harvesting of their personal data.” 

The Authority said there are a few key takeaways from the Joint Statement.

Screenshot_2024-03-26_at_16.28.32.png

Mr Horman said: “Data-scraping poses a global risk that calls for a global response.” 

“In joining forces with our international data protection partners we are setting out key global expectations for social media companies towards ensuring adequate safeguards to combat non-authorised scraping.”