Comment by DaSHacka | Hacker News Reader

Comment by DaSHacka | Hacker News Reader

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At my University, scripts like these are pretty much universal.

We even have an alumni-run site that scrapes the registration platform's API for the details of every course to provide a better UI interface.

It even has a tool to generate an AutoHotkey script so students can insta-register for all their classes seconds after registration opens up for them (it's usually a mad rush at midnight when course registration opens for freshman/sophomores as they all compete for the remaining course slots left after seniors and juniors have already registered).

Seems inane an institution would crack down on it.

We even have another alumni-run site that does nothing but FOIA the average GPA of all courses from every professor; While I can't imagine the university is thrilled about it, as it's completely legal they haven't tried to pressure the creators to shut it down afaik.

> Seems inane an institution would crack down on it.

Mad rushes to register requiring people to use automations like that sounds like a bad system to me, and something the university should be trying to address. That said, rather than a crackdown on tools, it’d make more sense to implement a harder-to-game system like spreading registration across a long period and assigning students to have their access unlock at a random time during the period. My college had time-slot (in person!) appointments like that 20 years ago.

If the university offers an API then it's not a "scrape". If you're describing unauthorized use of an API then you've disclosed a possible CFAA violation, not web scraping.

I have no idea how they do it, and I don't care if they're breaking the CFAA; Neither are my problem.

Though they do claim to obtain at least some of their information using an API, so if it's the word "scrape" you take issue with in the post, perhaps "queries" is a better fit.

It's no skin off my back if they're violating it, just clarifying that was what you could be describing. Considering this post is about a student facing expulsion, what you were saying could lead the developers to worse outcomes.

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