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253 points akyuu | 2 comments | | HN request time: 0.516s | source
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BinaryIgor ◴[] No.45945045[source]
I wonder why is it that we get an increase in these automated scrapers and attacks as of late (some few years); is there better (open-source?) technology that allows it? Is it because hosting infrastructure is cheaper also for the attackers? Both? Something else?

Maybe the long-term solution for such attacks is to hide most of the internet behind some kind of Proof of Work system/network, so that mostly humans get to access to our websites, not machines.

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hnthrowaway0315 ◴[] No.45945643[source]
I guess it is just because 1) They can, and 2) Everyone wants some data. I think it would be interesting if every website out there starts to push out BS pages just for scrappers. Not sure how much extra cost it's going to take if a website puts up say 50% BS pages that only scrappers can reach, or BS material with extremely small fonts hidden in regular pages that ordinary people cannot see.
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1. inerte ◴[] No.45945694[source]
Something like https://blog.cloudflare.com/ai-labyrinth/ ?
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2. hnthrowaway0315 ◴[] No.45950847[source]
Yeah something like this, would be nice if it actually feeds bad data that requires human to double confirm, too. Not something seriously wrong but something subtle, like changing a couple of letters in a name of a country, or randomize the National day. Once a lot of websites start to use it AI might actually get confused, I think? But humans never read these pages so should be largely fine -- unless they are reading AI summaries.