Billions of Scraped Discord Messages Up for Sale on Spy.Pet
Billions of Scraped Discord Messages Up for Sale on Spy.Pet
Four billion public Discord communications are available for purchase on Spy.pet, an internet scraping service.
Upon initial examination, there appears to be little that is unlawful about it. The communications were accessible to the public, and data scraping is not prohibited by law. It turns out, however, that the website did violate some regulations; more on that later.
The platform has collected details from 14,201 servers representing 627,914,396 users in order to amass this volume of data.
| Servers Being Tracked | 14.201 |
| Approximate Users Being Tracked | 627.914.396 |
| Messages Logged | 4.098.054.528 |
Certain users may find the manner in which Spy.pet arranged the data to be troublesome. It constructed a database containing all known aliases, pronouns, connected accounts (such as Steam and GitHub), joined Discord servers, and public messages, based on user profiles.
A descent into the gloomy abysses of the dark web is not necessary for purchasers to obtain this information. It is accessible to everyone via the standard web.
In addition, a search for information pertaining to a particular user requires only the user ID of that user on Discord and cryptocurrency.
In order to access profiles, one must initially purchase credits. A credit is valued at $0.01, and a purchase of at least 500 credits is required.
Ten credits will be refunded for each profile search, or seven credits for each cached profile.
Notably, the platform additionally provides an enterprise edition, information regarding which is distributed by contacting the administrator.
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Violating Multiple Laws
Data scraping is currently widespread, but there are a few principles that, if violated, can cost significantly more than a few dollars. Data scraping and sale pertaining to minors, particularly in the absence of consent, is prohibited in the majority of nations, including the United States.
Additionally, when collecting data on citizens of the European Union (EU), you must establish a procedure by which they can request the removal of their information. Although Spy.pet does feature a “Request Removal” icon, activating it will result in the display of a distracting segment from a Spider-Man film in which the news editor makes fun of Peter Parker.
Discord informed the Register that it is investigating the chat-harvesting service Spy.pet to determine whether any action is required.
Also Read : Beware! Check Your Child in School Before Paying The Online Ransom Money
| “Discord is dedicated to safeguarding our users’ privacy and information. An investigation is presently underway into this subject. Should it be ascertained that there have been infringements of our Terms of Service and Community Guidelines, the necessary measures will be implemented to enforce our policies. Additional remarks are not possible at this time due to the ongoing investigative process.” |
About The Author:
Yogesh Naager is a content marketer who specializes in the cybersecurity and B2B space. Besides writing for the News4Hackers blog, he’s also written for brands including CollegeDunia, Utsav Fashion, and NASSCOM. Naager entered the field of content in an unusual way. He began his career as an insurance sales executive, where he developed an interest in simplifying difficult concepts. He also combines this interest with a love of narrative, which makes him a good writer in the cybersecurity field. In the bottom line, he frequently writes for Craw Security.
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