Millions of Discord messages collected by web scraper!

It has been reported that the web scraping company Spy.pet has collected over four billion public messages from more than 14,000 Discord chat servers and provided access to this data. It is stated that these messages, sent by approximately 620 million users, began being collected in November 2023 and that the process is ongoing. It is noted that Discord is an advanced version of IRC and that such data is already public, making it possible to collect it via bots.

According to a report by The Register, Spy.pet offers data including user profiles, nicknames, gender pronouns, linked accounts, and the Discord servers they have joined, and charges a fee for access to this information. It is noted that users must purchase credits to browse profiles, access conversation archives, and search servers, with each credit costing one cent and access to a user profile costing ten credits. It was emphasized that payments are made only via cryptocurrency.

It is stated that Spy.pet offers a special service for corporate clients, intended for those looking to train artificial intelligence models or gather intelligence. Furthermore, it was mentioned that while Spy.pet previously accepted donations via Coinbase, this method is no longer in use, and that the website has been subjected to DDoS attacks, though these caused minimal damage to the site.

It was reported that Spy.pet's website contains interesting content, such as a link to a video of TempleOS developer Terry Davis dancing, a page containing the word "transparency," and a link to a scene from the movie Spider-Man 2.

It was stated that Spy.pet may need to review certain articles under the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and that the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is taking serious steps regarding the collection and sale of children's data.

It is noted that Discord is reviewing Spy.pet's services and investigating whether its terms of service and community guidelines have been violated, and that necessary steps will be taken if a violation is detected. It was conveyed that no further comment can be made as there is an ongoing investigation.

News Source: 12punto