HN user
This might work in cases where those with the data are engaged in noble acts, but not ever actor is.
I scrape and process websites of actors engaged in fraud. I do this to make the data more presentable to the proper authorities and to help uncover further evidence of their activities.
I suspect that asking for consent would be quickly denied and the data/evidence would quickly become inaccessible.
cute little altruistic process
Maybe it is not the opinion which is unpopular, but the way it is being presented.
I use web scraping to identify and monitor fraud.
Exhibit A: https://archive.ph/0ZUA8
This website is used to recruit people to set up "lead generation" Google Business Profiles and leave paid reviews.
Exhibit B: https://archive.ph/WWZuw
This is an example of the Craigslist ad used to initially attract people to the website above.
Exhibit C: https://archive.ph/wip/7Xig4
This is one of the Google Maps contributors which left paid reviews.
If you start with the reviews on that profile, you'll find a network of Google Business Profiles for fake service-area businesses connected through paid reviews.
Web scraping allows me to collect this type of data at scale.
I also use scraping to monitor the status of fake listings. If they are removed, the actor behind them will often get them reinstated. This allows me to report them again.
I don't think the smallest binary was the goal but rather the smallest compiled binary. I assume they were restricted to a specific compiler as well.