Does anyone have experience with TollBit? (AI access monetization)

Alpha1

Alpha1

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Tollbit sells access to AI crawlers and shares revenue with you. The concept is interesting. VerticalScope uses it, so I guess it has XenForo integration?

tollbit.com

TollBit - Your complete web stack for the agentic internet

Create an agent optimized version of your website for autonomous visitors. Control access, analyze AI bot traffic, and monetize your site as the agent economy grows.
tollbit.com tollbit.com

VerticalScope Taps TollBit to Unlock AI License Revenue and Protect Community Content

VerticalScope Holdings Inc. (“VerticalScope” or the “Company”) (TSX: FORA; OTCQX: VFORF), a technology company that has built and operates a cloud-based digital platform for online enthusiast communities, today announced a partnership with TollBit, an innovative platform that connects online...
investors.verticalscope.com investors.verticalscope.com

Does anyone have experience with Tollbit?
 
Alpha1 said:
The concept is interesting. VerticalScope uses it, so I guess it has XenForo integration?
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I don’t think in the sense that there’s a readily available addon we can all use. I did contact them and I get the feeling they can integrate any platform, but just a case of whether you have the knowledge to do it or the money to hire a developer to do it for you.

In the end I didn’t bother, I’d lose a lot of members if I told them I’d be selling their content to train ai
 
I hear you. But AI is accessing our sites anyway, so it would make sense to control and monetize it.
 
Alpha1 said:
I hear you. But AI is accessing our sites anyway, so it would make sense to control and monetize it.
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The other option would be to block AI bots as successful as possible. It is a never ending dreadful task but giving up is not really an option and neither is selling the content of my users. I highly doubt that with tollbit you could "control" AI bots so that scraping bots that don't pa would be locked out. Their webpage looks like a lot of hot air to me (typical startup) and if cloudflare (that btw. have announced an AI monetaristion marketplace mid last year as well) fail to detect and stop AI bots sucessfully despite being in the business for a very long time, having loads of experienced staff and nonthelast filtering out annoyances as one of their core company purposes (while with tollbit it is rather a side purpose) - how would I believe that tollbit could achive that, the more as I found exactly zero on their webpage about the "how".
 
Good points there. I'm not sure if its a feasible option to stop AI bots now that OS and browsers are getting packed with AI browsing features.
AI bots do seem to limit their use of website data to not breach copyright. i.e. they use bits of scraped data, but refuse to provide a whole page or whole post. So LLMs have the data, but their use is limited by the copyright policy of the website.

Reddit makes money from LLM scraping deals with Google and OpenAI. They have also demanded that Google send them more users in return. The same companies that are already scraping every websites anyways. Our websites are too small to make such deals, which is why a data broker may be able to provide income. Users don't like it, but most wouldn't accept a paywall either.
 
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Alpha1 said:
Users don't like it, but most wouldn't accept a paywall either.
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No they won’t and in most cases unless you change your terms to inform them their content is being sold, it would be against most standard forum T & C
 
I imagine with Tollbit you will get some income but how much? And how would you know it is actually stopping any unauthorised scraping anyway?
 
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Here's Reddits ToS:
When Your Content is created with or submitted to the Services, you grant us a worldwide, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive, transferable, and sublicensable license to use, copy, modify, adapt, prepare derivative works of, distribute, store, perform, and display Your Content and any name, username, voice, or likeness provided in connection with Your Content in all media formats and channels now known or later developed anywhere in the world. This license includes the right for us to make Your Content available for syndication, broadcast, distribution, or publication by other companies, organizations, or individuals who partner with Reddit. For example, this license includes the right to use Your Content to train AI and machine learning models, as further described in our Public Content Policy. You also agree that we may remove metadata associated with Your Content, and you irrevocably waive any claims and assertions of moral rights or attribution with respect to Your Content.
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Meta and Google have similar policies. Everyone is using those services. Nowadays even a Windows license has similar copyright terms and ToS.
I have used something similar but more comprehensive than Reddit for many decades. Mostly to protect against copyright claims and rage quitting.

Mr Lucky said:
I imagine with Tollbit you will get some income but how much? And how would you know it is actually stopping any unauthorised scraping anyway?
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I don't think scraping can currently be blocked, but selling the copyright license for expanded use of the scraped data may be possible and the expanded use of data is something that can be easily checked.

Of course PII would always need to be excluded from the data. I think the emergence of LLM scraping requires improvement of the Copyright / Privacy pages.
 
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Alpha1 said:
Here's Reddits ToS:
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This is kind of a flat rate that barely excludes anything. It may well be that this excessive allowances may be considered illegal and not valid, at least under European consumer law. Someone would have to go to court to find out.
Alpha1 said:
Meta and Google have similar policies. Everyone is using those services.
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Not everyone. I am sure I am not the only person that deliberately never had a facebook-account or any other account on anything that belongs to Meta, that avoids Microsoft products for the most part as well as other services that exploit user data. Most people are probably unaware or don't care, having no idea of the potential consequences of profiling. But at least some would probably stay away if they were better informed about what is written in the TOS of these services or would not be mentally overwhelmed by the complexity of the matter. However: It may even be a layer to use as an argument for forums vs. Reddit, Facebook, Instagram etc.: "They sell you, your data, your habits and your content and you get absolute zil for it vs. on our forum we do neither systematically collect your data nor do we profile you or sell your data or your content."
 
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