(1) Gathering data from any online source. For example, search engines and AI systems scrape data from millions of articles, blogs, websites, books and journals. See
machine learning.
(2) Extracting data from output sent to the screen or printer rather than from the original files and databases. Scraping obtains data from any source without having access to the actual files and databases but only when being printed or rendered on screen. Scraping differs from capturing the screen. A screen capture creates an image of the pixels on screen, whereas scraping extracts the actual text. See
screen capture.
(3) Extracting email addresses or other data from websites or search engine results. The data may be sold to spammers or criminals, or it may be reorganized and presented on a website along with ads to derive income.