[Eril-l] Taylor & Francis blocking IP addresses due to excessive use

[Joe Marciniak]

Hi, Kenyon

We had exactly this issue with T&F, but the browser in question was Firefox. After we investigated and identified the person responsible, they stated that while attempting to access content, their browser would reload in quick succession and appear to get caught in an infinite loop trying to reload. I shared this with T&F and they confirmed that this behavior could have triggered the IP block, and they removed the block.

Since that experience, I have asked vendors to confirm that different content is actually being accessed before they block our IP(s). My argument has been that multiple downloads of the same page of an article aren't really a security issue or a violation of our license agreements (I mean, it is excessive downloading, but why would a patron intentionally download the same PDF page hundreds of times, and why would it really matter?).

We also had another experience where the user didn't know where their computer was saving downloaded content, so they kept manually downloading the same article again and again. That also triggered a block due to rapid, excessive downloading detected by the provider.

Hope this helps...
Best,
--
Joe Marciniak
Electronic Resources Librarian
Princeton University
One Washington Road
Princeton, NJ 08544-2098

From: Eril-l <eril-l-bounces at lists.eril-l.org> On Behalf Of Sara Hills
Sent: Monday, January 23, 2023 3:19 PM
To: Kenyon Stuart <kstuart at umich.edu>; eril-l at lists.eril-l.org
Subject: Re: [Eril-l] Taylor & Francis blocking IP addresses due to excessive use

Hello Kenyon -

Yes, we've experienced the same thing. We've had a number of reports of on-campus IP addresses being blocked. We're still trying to figure out what the cause was/is.

I'm happy to know we're not alone!


Sara K Hills

Electronic Resources and Serials Librarian

Interim Head of Acquisitions and Resource Management

American University, Washington DC 20016

202-885-3203

________________________________
From: Eril-l <eril-l-bounces at lists.eril-l.org<mailto:eril-l-bounces at lists.eril-l.org>> on behalf of Kenyon Stuart <kstuart at umich.edu<mailto:kstuart at umich.edu>>
Sent: Monday, January 23, 2023 2:49 PM
To: eril-l at lists.eril-l.org<mailto:eril-l at lists.eril-l.org> <eril-l at lists.eril-l.org<mailto:eril-l at lists.eril-l.org>>
Subject: [Eril-l] Taylor & Francis blocking IP addresses due to excessive use


External Email: Use caution with links and attachments.
Hello,

We received a few reports last week from Taylor & Francis that they had temporarily blocked one of our IP addresses because of excessive connection to Taylor & Francis Online (tandfonline.com<https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Furldefense.com%2Fv3%2F__http%3A%2F%2Ftandfonline.com__%3B!!IaT_gp1N!wSm7aYZLkckv-8S1C-SYwjntc5qMzp8ODu3z8wutJm7cSZGTO_AYW6G5VUdGKWibs7S8xyLzjwiA4eHfEuc%24&data=05%7C01%7Cjm110%40princeton.edu%7C757bbfdb26d64de51b8808dafd7f9191%7C2ff601167431425db5af077d7791bda4%7C0%7C0%7C638101021597300771%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C2000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=OwaCGmQYMCAPXLkzpIU9U8z2jBnnBsPv3fsqjeqPoMw%3D&reserved=0>). The activity occurs over a period of one or two minutes and involves dozens of connections to only 1 or 2 pages. The block seems to occur after 100 total connection attempts.

Our IT group investigated and suggested the activity could be due to a buggy browser. We've contacted a few users and they mentioned they were using Chrome and Zotero.

Has anyone else experienced similar issues with Taylor & Francis Online or with Chrome or Zotero? If yes, do you have any suggestions on what we can do or should investigate?

Thank you,

Kenyon Stuart
Electronic Resource Management Unit
320 Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1190 USA
email: kstuart at umich.edu
<mailto:kstuart at umich.edu>
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