{"id":33663,"date":"2023-10-16T02:59:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-16T09:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/insidebigdata.com\/?p=33663"},"modified":"2023-10-16T12:44:28","modified_gmt":"2023-10-16T19:44:28","slug":"ethical-web-data-collection-initiative-launches-certification-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/insidebigdata.com\/2023\/10\/16\/ethical-web-data-collection-initiative-launches-certification-program\/","title":{"rendered":"Ethical Web Data Collection Initiative Launches Certification Program"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Ethical Web Data Collection Initiative<\/a> (EWDCI) is an industry-led consortium of web data collectors focused on strengthening public trust, promoting ethical guidelines, and helping businesses and their customers make informed data extraction choices. The association aims to raise the bar for ethics in the process widely known as \u201cdata scraping\u201d with the goal of\u00a0enhancing trust\u2014a key component of a free, fair, and open Internet.\u00a0This international, industry-led, and member-driven consortium is announcing an accreditation program developed to bring greater accountability and build consumer confidence in the data collection industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The EWDCI accreditation program was recently announced wherein eligible companies can receive an\u00a0EWDCI Certified<\/em>\u00a0designation. All companies that receive the EWDCI Certified designation are showing the world that they adhere to these agreed-upon principles and the highest degree of ethics when collecting public web data, while also further advancing the industry\u2019s best practices and accountability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Companies may apply to become EWDCI Certified. We encourage companies who collect and manage web data to\u00a0join the consortium\u2014and, most importantly, join the conversation to further develop these principles.\u00a0The inaugural group of web data aggregators that have earned EWDCI accreditation includes Coresignal, Oxylabs, ProxyEmpire, Rayobyte, Smartproxy, and Zyte.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The EWDCI Certified designation isn\u2019t so much the result of our work but rather the culmination of the first stage of a longer process. The web data collection industry is still young, but it\u2019s growing very quickly. As more data-hungry AI tools fall into corporate and private hands, there is a\u00a0limited opportunity to shape how data-collection practices are developed and perceived.\u00a0This is why the EWDCI is dedicated to defining positive and beneficial uses of the important abilities and potential of data collection and aggregation at scale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The EWDCI is now focused on furthering the consortium\u2019s mission and scope of practice through the acquisition of public commentary on various topics, which include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n