The web does not need gatekeepers: Cloudflare’s new “signed agents” pitch

Everyone loves the dream of a free for all and open web.

But the reality is how can someone small protect their blog or content from AI training bots? E.g.: They just blindly trust someone is sending Agent vs Training bots and super duper respecting robots.txt? Get real...

Or, fine what if they do respect robots.txt, but they buy the data that may or may not have been shielded through liability layers via "licensed data"?

Unless you're reddit, X, Google, or Meta with scary unlimited budget legal teams, you have no power.

Great video: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/M0QyOp7zqcY

> Everyone loves the dream of a free for all and open web... But the reality is how can someone small protect their blog or content from AI training bots?

Aren't these statements entirely in conflict? You either have a free for all open web or you don't. Blocking AI training bots is not free and open for all.

I think that was the point. Everyone loves the dream, but the reality is different.

How so? If you don't want AI bots reading information on the web, you don't actually want a free and open web. The reality of an open web is that such information is free and available for anyone.

The problem is not AI bot scraping, per se, but "AI bot scraping while disregarding all licenses and ethical considerations".

Freedom, the word, while implies no boundaries, is always bound by ethics, mutual respect and "do no harm" principle. The moment you trip either one of these wires and break them, the mechanisms to counter it becomes active.

Then we cry "but, freedom?!". Freedom also contains the consequences of one's actions.

Freedom without consequences is tyranny of the powerful.

The problem isn't "AI bot scraping while disregarding all licenses and ethical considerations". The problem is "AI bot scraping while ignoring every good practice to reduce bandwidth usage".