
ProductNavigating the Legal Landscape: User-Permissioned Scanning in the UK
At Mistho, we are excited to work on the frontier of both technological and legal innovation. Recently, we have seen more and more misinformation created in the market, essentially trying to discredit one of the best technologies available to implement basic consumer data rights with the goal of creating or sometimes maintaining data oligopolies for income and employment information existing in the market today. As a result, we are now sharing our perspective more openly to enable all market participants to gain a clear picture of the legal landscape around user-permissioned scanning (sometimes called screen scraping). In an era where data is akin to digital gold, scanning —the process of extracting data from a website's interface— with the explicit consent from the user is the easiest way for them to make use of their right to data portability. In the United Kingdom, this practice is governed by a complex web of laws and regulations, including the Computer Misuse Act, the Data Protection Act, Copyright Law, and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), as well as considerations under contract law. This article embarks on an explorative journey to dissect these legal frameworks, aiming to illuminate the legality of user-permissioned scanning under specific conditions: obtaining the necessary consents, ensuring user rights to access their own data, and the non-storage of credentials. Of course, this is not legal advice, but is based on our years-long experience working with some of the best law firms in the field.
Maximilian Czymoch
5 min read