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In the UK is it legal to view a web page source code. By right-clicking on a web page then selecting "page source", one can see the source code for that page, is that legal? If one does not intend to use that code without permission Thanks

Jen
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sid Sharp
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1 Answers1

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There are no laws in the UK preventing you from viewing the source code of a page as it appears in your browser, src: I've worked in web design, development, and marketing for almost 30 years in the UK and need to pay attention to the legality of such things.

Do bear in mind that this is purely the client side code (be it HTML, CSS, JS, etc) which is sent to your browser. Using any code you see for your own purposes does run the risk of copyright infringement, but studying how something is done by looking at the code in a live website is a typical learning experience for many developers.

Server-side code (PHP, ASP, Ruby, Python, etc) is generally not made accessible to the general public, so accessing that (if you can) without permission would be a crime under the Computer Misuse Act.

GeoffAtkins
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