ALBANY—the New York State Senate and Assembly passed landmark legislation (A.11292/S.9934A) protecting news media from being bombarded by deceptive “stealth crawlers” from tech companies.
“By protecting broadcast news operations from unauthorized access by Big Tech, the legislation ensures the economic foundations of producing original, local news by broadcast stations throughout the Empire state,” explained David Donovan, president of the New York State Broadcaster Association who hailed the landmark legislation, which is believed to be the first of its kind in the country. “It prohibits using `stealth crawlers to extract a broadcaster’s news content without permission or payment. In addition, the legislation requires AI systems to disclose when crawlers are employed to extract content from broadcasters.”
The legislation addresses a longstanding problem faced by broadcasters and news sites. Some AI systems use “stealth crawlers” to hide their identities and secretly access digital services owned by newspapers and broadcasters. This practice imposes substantial burdens on local newspapers and broadcast stations, who are often overwhelmed by millions of bot hits each day. It can also devalue the website traffic figures that news websites rely on to sell advertising.
“The New York Assembly and Senate just took a strong stand for transparency and the health of our information ecosystem,” said Danielle Coffey, president and CEO of the News/Media Alliance. “Right now, news websites are drowning in bot traffic. Bad bots are disguising their identities to overload publisher servers and access the quality content on our sites, hurting our ability to serve readers. This bill will be a simple, common sense solution to this problem. By requiring transparency and accountability for bad actors, the New York Stealth Crawler Prohibition Act gives publishers the tools they need to defend themselves and continue providing quality and critical information.”
Diane Kennedy, president of the New York News Publishers Association, also lauded the precedent setting legislation: “News publishers invest substantial resources of labor, skill, and capital in producing original journalism. The proliferation of stealth crawlers — automated bots that access news sites without identifying themselves or disclosing their purposes — enables technology companies and other actors to access the fruits of that investment without consent or transparency. This legislation prohibits crawlers from disguising their identity when accessing covered news sources and creates a meaningful private right of action for journalism providers to enforce that obligation.”
The three associations thanked “Assemblyperson Steven Otis, Chair of the Internet Assembly Science and Technology Committee (A.11292) and Senator Mike Gianaris, Deputy Majority Leader of the NY State Senate (S.9934A) for sponsoring this important legislation. Through their extraordinary efforts citizens in New York will continue to access original local news by their favorite newspaper and broadcast stations.”
