Search a title or topic

Over 20 million podcasts, powered by 

Player FM logo
Artwork

Content provided by Jared Norman. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Jared Norman or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://podcastplayer.com/legal.
Player FM - Podcast App
Go offline with the Player FM app!

Poisoning the Well (with Heydon Pickering)

37:34
 
Share
 

Manage episode 482519818 series 3645584
Content provided by Jared Norman. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Jared Norman or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://podcastplayer.com/legal.

In this episode of Dead Code, Jared interviews Heydon Pickering about his satirical strategy to sabotage AI web crawlers by generating nonsense versions of his blog posts. Using Eleventy and JS DOM, Heydon replaces keywords in his content with absurd alternatives from a static lexicon, creating grammatically broken, jargon-filled text that wastes crawler resources without harming his SEO. Frustrated by how LLMs scrape web content without consent, he frames his approach as both a protest and a creative, Dadaist rebellion against exploitative tech norms. While the method won’t cripple AI models, it reflects a broader resistance to the unchecked harvesting of human-created content.


Links:


“Poisoning the Well” (Heydon’s article)

“Please Stop Externalizing Your Costs Directly In My Face” – The article that partly inspired Heydon’s efforts to push back against LLM scraping.

Heydon’s Blog

Webbed Briefs (Heydon’s video series)

Eleventy (11ty)

JS DOM

robots.txt

nofollow attribute

Dadaism


Dead Code Podcast Links:


Mastodon

X


Jared’s Links:


Mastodon

X

twitch.tv/jardonamron

Jared’s Newsletter & Website


Episode Transcript


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  continue reading

42 episodes

Artwork
iconShare
 
Manage episode 482519818 series 3645584
Content provided by Jared Norman. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Jared Norman or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://podcastplayer.com/legal.

In this episode of Dead Code, Jared interviews Heydon Pickering about his satirical strategy to sabotage AI web crawlers by generating nonsense versions of his blog posts. Using Eleventy and JS DOM, Heydon replaces keywords in his content with absurd alternatives from a static lexicon, creating grammatically broken, jargon-filled text that wastes crawler resources without harming his SEO. Frustrated by how LLMs scrape web content without consent, he frames his approach as both a protest and a creative, Dadaist rebellion against exploitative tech norms. While the method won’t cripple AI models, it reflects a broader resistance to the unchecked harvesting of human-created content.


Links:


“Poisoning the Well” (Heydon’s article)

“Please Stop Externalizing Your Costs Directly In My Face” – The article that partly inspired Heydon’s efforts to push back against LLM scraping.

Heydon’s Blog

Webbed Briefs (Heydon’s video series)

Eleventy (11ty)

JS DOM

robots.txt

nofollow attribute

Dadaism


Dead Code Podcast Links:


Mastodon

X


Jared’s Links:


Mastodon

X

twitch.tv/jardonamron

Jared’s Newsletter & Website


Episode Transcript


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  continue reading

42 episodes

All episodes

×
 
Loading …

Welcome to Player FM!

Player FM is scanning the web for high-quality podcasts for you to enjoy right now. It's the best podcast app and works on Android, iPhone, and the web. Signup to sync subscriptions across devices.

 

Listen to this show while you explore
Play