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Practices & Usage Notices

BookScrapeDB_Recommends™ LICENSE GNU APGL 3.0 Copyright (c) Since 2024 - Content - Antoine Cantin (@ChiefsBestPal)

COMPLIANCE

  • Rate limiting to prevent server overload
  • robots.txt directive compliance
  • Transparent User-Agent identification
  • Incremental processing to minimize redundant requests
  • Data obfuscation techniques to prevent unauthorized pattern replication

See DATA_COMPLIANCE for platform-specific guidance and details

Unrestricted EDUCATIONAL & RESEARCH PURPOSE

This software is originally designed for personal usage, educational, research, and portfolio purposes. It demonstrates advanced data engineering, ETL pipeline design, graph analytics, AI/ML integration and more.

Restricted PRODUCTION PURPOSE & EXPLICIT AGREEMENTS

For production/commercial deployment, explicit written agreements with data providers are required and must be obtained prior to any trademarked or commercial use. Research permissions (e.g. Goodreads Amazon LLC, Google Books Google LLC) and ensure compliance with all applicable Terms of Service and data protection regulations.

Caution

Goodreads Terms of Service (April 28, 2021) prohibit automated data collection tools. This project is designed for small-scale educational use. Users are responsible for obtaining necessary permissions for their specific use case.

CODE OBFUSCATION AND PARTIAL GITHUB PUBLIC CODE

Certain portions of the data extraction and scraping code use obfuscated identifiers and defensive coding practices. This is intentional to:

  1. Prevent unauthorized automated copying of scraping patterns
  2. Deter misuse for large-scale Terms of Service violations
  3. Protect proprietary pairing algorithms and cross-referencing logic
  4. Enable educational use while discouraging production-scale abuse

This obfuscation does NOT hide malicious code. The codebase remains open-source under AGPL-3.0, and unobfuscated versions are available to legitimate contributors upon request.

PRIVACY & DATA PROTECTION

This project processes publicly available data with the following protections:

  • User anonymization in all outputs and visualizations
  • No collection of personally identifiable information (PII)
  • No passwords, authentication tokens, or private data accessed
  • Compliance with GDPR/CCPA principles where applicable

See PRIVACY_POLICY in for complete privacy practices.

Terms of Use

Effective Date: January 2025
Last Modified: August 2025

By accessing, downloading, using, or modifying the BookScrapeDB_Recommends codebase, you agree to be bound by these terms.

1. Grant of License

Subject to compliance with these terms, the copyright holder grants you a license to use this software under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 (SEE LICENSE)

You MAY:

  • ✅ Use the code for personal, educational, or non-commercial research purposes
  • ✅ Modify and create derivative works
  • ✅ Distribute the code and modifications
  • ✅ Include this project in your portfolio or academic work
  • ✅ Learn from and reference the architectural patterns

You MUST:

  • ✅ Provide attribution to creator/author (Antoine Cantin) or any contributing third-party(ies)/author(s)
  • ✅ Share source code of modifications if deployed as a network service (AGPL requirement)
  • ✅ Include original copyright notices and license in all distributions
  • ✅ Ensure your use complies with third-party platform Terms of Service
  • ✅ Obtain explicit written agreements for any commercial or trademarked use

You MAY NOT:

  • ❌ Use this code to violate platform Terms of Service at scale
  • ❌ Deploy commercially without proper data licensing and permissions
  • ❌ Remove, obscure, or alter copyright notices or attributions
  • ❌ Use for malicious purposes (DDoS, spam, harassment, unauthorized access)
  • ❌ Claim this work as your own original creation
  • ❌ Bypass platform security measures or access controls

2. Data Source Compliance

Your Responsibility

You are solely responsible for ensuring your use of this code complies with:

Platform Terms of Service:

  • Goodreads Terms of Use (prohibits most automated data collection)
  • Google Books API Terms and Google LLC user data ToS+Agreements+Regulation
  • OpenLibrary Terms of Service+recent/local Jurisdiciton/Regulation
  • ISBNdb Terms and Conditions
  • Any other applicable platform policies

Legal Requirements:

  • Copyright and intellectual property laws
  • Data protection regulations (GDPR, CCPA, etc.)
  • Computer fraud and abuse laws in your jurisdiction
  • Academic or institutional ethics policies

Commercial & Production Use

For production deployment or commercial use, you MUST:

  1. Obtain explicit written permission from data source platforms
  2. Secure appropriate data licensing agreements
  3. Implement compliance with all applicable regulations
  4. Document your authorization in writing
  5. Consult legal counsel regarding your specific use case

Do NOT assume that educational/research exceptions apply to your use case without independent legal verification.

3. User Data & Privacy

Data Processing Obligations

When processing user-generated content (reviews, profiles, etc.), you agree to:

  • Anonymize user identifiers in all outputs and visualizations
  • Minimize data collection to only what is necessary
  • Secure all stored data with appropriate safeguards
  • Respect user privacy and data protection rights
  • Comply with GDPR, CCPA, and other applicable privacy laws

AI/ML Processing

When using AI/ML features (RAG, LLM analysis, embeddings):

  • Ensure compliance with AI ethics guidelines
  • Do not use models to identify or profile individuals
  • Respect intellectual property in training data
  • Provide transparency about AI-assisted recommendations

4. Code Obfuscation

Certain portions of this codebase use obfuscated identifiers and defensive coding practices. By using this code, you acknowledge:

  • Obfuscation is intentional to prevent large-scale Terms of Service violations
  • You will NOT attempt to circumvent obfuscation for unauthorized purposes
  • Unobfuscated code access requires approval from the maintainer
  • The obfuscation does NOT hide malicious functionality

5. Attribution Requirements

Mandatory Attribution

When using or distributing this code, you MUST provide clear attribution:

Based on BookScrapeDB_Recommends by Antoine Cantin
https://github.com/ChiefsBestPal/BooksScrapeDatabase_and_Recommender
Licensed under GNU AGPL-3.0

In Academic Work

Citation format:

Cantin, A. (2024-2025). BookScrapeDB_Recommends: Multi-Source Literature 
Analytics and Recommendation Platform. GitHub repository. 
https://github.com/ChiefsBestPal/BooksScrapeDatabase_and_Recommender

6. No Warranty

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO:

  • ❌ Warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose
  • ❌ Non-infringement of third-party rights
  • ❌ Data accuracy, completeness, or reliability
  • ❌ Uninterrupted, secure, or error-free operation
  • ❌ Legal compliance for any specific use case

The author makes NO representations about the suitability of this software for any purpose.

7. Limitation of Liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, the author shall NOT be liable for:

  • Direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, or punitive damages
  • Loss of profits, revenue, data, or business opportunities
  • Legal fees, regulatory penalties, or compliance costs
  • Damages arising from third-party claims or platform enforcement actions
  • Issues resulting from Terms of Service violations

TOTAL LIABILITY SHALL NOT EXCEED $0.00 USD.

You agree to use this software entirely at your own risk.

8. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless the author from any claims, damages, losses, liabilities, and expenses (including attorney fees) arising from:

  1. Your use or misuse of this software
  2. Your violation of these Terms of Use
  3. Your violation of third-party rights or platform Terms of Service
  4. Your violation of applicable laws or regulations
  5. Any modifications you make to the code
  6. Your deployment of this software in any environment

9. Termination

Your right to use this software terminates automatically if you:

  • Violate any provision of these Terms of Use
  • Use the software for prohibited purposes
  • Fail to comply with the AGPL-3.0 license requirements

Upon termination:

  • You must cease all use of the software
  • You must destroy all copies in your possession
  • Your obligations under indemnification survive termination

10. Third-Party Platforms

Platform Relationships

This project accesses data from third-party platforms. You acknowledge:

  • The author is NOT affiliated with Goodreads, Amazon, Google, or other platforms
  • The author CANNOT guarantee continued access to any platform
  • The author is NOT responsible for platform policy changes or enforcement
  • Your use may violate platform Terms of Service - proceed at your own risk

Platform Trademarks

All trademarks (Goodreads™/Amazon LLC, Google Books™/Google LLC, etc.) are property of their respective owners. Use of these trademarks is for identification purposes only and does not imply endorsement.

11. Modifications to Terms

These Terms may be updated at any time. Changes will be indicated by the "Last Modified" date at the top of this document.

Continued use after modifications constitutes acceptance of updated terms.

Check this document regularly for changes.

12. Governing Law

These Terms shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws applicable in the author's jurisdiction, without regard to conflict of law provisions.

13. Severability

If any provision of these Terms is found to be unenforceable, the remaining provisions shall remain in full force and effect.

14. Entire Agreement

These Terms, together with the LICENSE, NOTICE, and referenced documentation, constitute the entire agreement between you and the author regarding use of this software.

15. Contact

Questions about these Terms?

  • Open a GitHub issue (for general questions)
  • Contact directly (for legal inquiries)
  • See SECURITY.md for security issues

GitHub: @ChiefsBestPal
Repository: https://github.com/ChiefsBestPal/BooksScrapeDatabase_and_Recommender

Acceptance

BY USING THIS SOFTWARE, YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT:

  1. ✅ You have read and understood these Terms of Use
  2. ✅ You accept all risks associated with using this code
  3. ✅ You will not hold the author liable for any consequences
  4. ✅ You are responsible for your own legal compliance
  5. ✅ You understand this is experimental/educational software

IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THESE TERMS, DO NOT USE, EXTEND OR DEPLOY THIS SOFTWARE.

Copyright © 2024-2025 Antoine Cantin
Licensed under GNU AGPL-3.0