Just because I make a piece of data freely available on the Internet, that does not make it public domain. It can still be legally protected in all kind of ways, even if it's not protected by technical means.
Companies that gather data from the Internet ought to be made painfully aware of this fact: you still need a license to use any data that's not yours, and if it's not clear whether there is a license to be had, that doesn't mean the piece of data is up for grabs; it means that if you grab it you're in an ambiguous situation at best, and could very well land in court.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
