Question 1

What does the CC BY-ND license allow and forbid?

Accepted Answer

CC BY-ND allows use and redistribution with attribution, but forbids derivative works — so derive and transform are restricted, while scrape, redistribute, and (with caveats) TDM/AI use may be allowed with attribution.

Question 2

What does a GitHub repo with no license mean for reuse?

Accepted Answer

On GitHub, a repo with no LICENSE file is all-rights-reserved by default — not permissive. AIScrapeSafe treats "no license" as reserved, so scraping, mining, and reuse come back restricted.

Question 3

What's the copyright risk of scraping a dataset for AI?

Accepted Answer

The risk isn't the scraping act so much as what you do with copyrighted material afterward: store it, train on it, redistribute it. If a source reserves those rights and you can't show you checked, you have no defense if challenged. AIScrapeSafe flags the rights each source expresses and registers the evidence so the diligence is provable. Not legal advice.

Question 4

What counts as IP infringement when scraping?

Accepted Answer

Scraping can cross into infringement when you copy, store, or redistribute protected expression beyond what a license or exception permits. Facts aren't protected, but the creative expression around them often is, and database rights or contract terms can bite independently of copyright. AIScrapeSafe surfaces the signals; it's evidence for your call, not legal advice.

Question 5

Does a Creative Commons license allow AI training and derivatives?

Accepted Answer

It depends which CC license. BY allows reuse with attribution; SA adds share-alike; NC forbids commercial use; ND forbids derivatives (which can include some AI outputs). So CC BY-ND lets you read but not build derivative works, while CC BY is permissive. AIScrapeSafe maps the specific license to per-right verdicts rather than treating "Creative Commons" as one thing.

Question 6

Is scraping public data the same as it being copyright-free?

Accepted Answer

No. "Publicly accessible" and "free of copyright" are different things. Most public web pages are still copyrighted, and being reachable without a login doesn't grant reuse, mining, or training rights. Public-domain or openly licensed content is the exception, not the rule, so check the license before you assume. Not legal advice.

Question 7

What is the OpenControls.ai schema?

Accepted Answer

An open, machine-readable schema that lets a publisher declare usage rights in a structured file (e.g. opencontrols.json) instead of burying them in a long Terms of Service. AIScrapeSafe natively reads it and treats a declaration as a highly authoritative signal.

Licenses (CC, RSL, SPDX)