The proposed **Senate Bill 9934A** seeks to criminalize anonymous automated access to the internet, requiring web crawlers to disclose their identity and explicit purpose. It also grants media outlets the power to obtain judicial subpoenas to unmask unidentified automated web traffic without demonstrating misconduct or actual injury. ### A Dangerous Precedent for the Open Web Critics argue that this legislation sets a perilous precedent. In a letter to Governor Hochul, the coalition stated: > *"By requiring all web crawlers to disclose their identity and explicit purpose, and by granting media outlets unchecked authority to obtain judicial subpoenas to unmask unidentified automated web traffic without any showing of misconduct or actual injury, this bill threatens digital privacy, compromises the foundational architecture of the internet, and will ultimately stifle the very independent journalism it seeks to protect."* ### The Misunderstood 'Stealth Crawler' What the bill labels "stealth crawlers" are, in reality, automated tools designed to access and collect publicly available web data without revealing the user's identity. These private crawlers are essential for a wide array of public-interest activities, including investigative journalism, academic research, and cybersecurity protection. ### Crucial for Investigative Journalism and Cybersecurity Anonymous crawling has been instrumental in significant investigative reporting. For example: * **The Markup**, a non-profit news site, utilized anonymous crawlers to investigate potential anti-competitive practices by tech giants like **Amazon**, revealing its tendency to prioritize its own brands in search results. * **ProPublica** employed a similar automated tool to expose how **Amazon**'s pricing algorithm steered shoppers towards more expensive products. Beyond journalism, anonymous web scraping is vital for cybersecurity professionals. They use automated tools to monitor the web for threat intelligence, helping to protect against malicious actors. Privacy tools, such as **EFF**'s **Privacy Badger**, also rely on anonymous crawling to identify trackers without compromising user privacy. ### Addressing the Real Issue: Overaggressive Crawling The coalition emphasizes that laws like **S9934A** are overly broad, targeting anonymity rather than the actual technical challenge: overaggressive crawling that can strain server infrastructure. Unmasking crawlers will not resolve these technical issues but will instead chill critical public-interest research and compromise digital privacy. Addressing the harms of web scraping, the groups contend, requires narrow technical solutions, not policies that grant publishers veto power over the open web. The **EFF** and its allies are therefore calling on Governor Hochul to veto **S9934A**. The full letter can be read [here](https://www.eff.org/document/ny-s9934a-stealth-crawlers-request-veto).