(1) Gathering data from any online source. For example, AI systems scrape data from millions of articles, blogs, websites, books and journals. See
machine learning.
(2) Extracting data from output sent to the screen or printer rather than from the original files or databases. Scraping is a way to obtain data from any source without having access to the original file, but only at the moment it is being printed or displayed. Scraping differs from capturing the screen. A screen capture creates an image of the screen, whereas scraping extracts the actual text. See
screen capture.
(3) Extracting email addresses or other data from websites or search engine results. The data may be sold to spammers or criminals, or it may be reorganized and presented on a website along with ads to derive income.