Webbots, Spiders, and Screen Scrapers: A Guide to Developing Internet Agents with PHP/CURL

This text first outlines the deficiencies of browsers, and then explains how these deficiencies can be exploited in the design and deployment of task-specific webbots. Readers will learn how to write stealthy webbots that read email, emulate online forms, auto-authenticate, manage cookies, and handle encryption.

Michael Schrenk develops webbots and spiders for clients across North America. He has written for Computerworld and Web Techniques magazines and has taught college courses on web usability and Internet marketing. He's also an occasional speaker at DEFCON.