It has become more frequent for someone to contact me saying "I can't access your sites from my phone / cable modem", and on the few occasions when they tell me what their IP is, it turns out that, yup, that IP did some extremely obvious AI scraper bullshit and got shitcanned for a month.

I have no way of knowing how often collateral damage like this happens, since by definition they aren't connecting to my site afterward. But anecdotally, telcos and cable companies seem to have short leases and I seem to be banning a lot of them.

If I don't block these scrapers but merely serve them nonsense, my web site falls over.

I have no idea what to do about this, and it sucks.

(And neither do you.)

(Do not suggest Anubis, because proof of work is fundamentally inflationary, wasteful bullshit that will never work because the attacker can always outspend you.)

(Do not suggest Clownflare because they are Nazis.)

Previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously.