robots.txt and the law

do they intersect

[Powdork]

Perhaps this question has been asked before, which cannot be ignored in reference to this question. What would happen if a search engine, not necessarily one of the majors, would simply crawl and index a site that has a proper robots.txt file prohibiting it from doing so. Ignoring the technical issues of getting past the formidable defenses of a site such as this, what would be the legal ramifications, if any, of doing so?
Why wouldn't a robots.txt disallow on a website carry the same weight as a no tresspassing sign on someone's physical property?

[percentages]

I think you are absolutely correct.

If your robots.txt excludes all uninvited crawlers then you are effectively displaying a "trespassers will be prosecuted sign"

The problem comes with enforcing that law!

In principal it is easy, in practice it is expensive!

In addition you have the problem that you want to be seen by the "desirables", but, hidden from the others.

My analogy would be a photographer chasing a celebrity. Where is the line in the sand to be drawn? You want exposure, but only from those that will picture you on the "good side", a very tricky thing to achieve!