Centris, Ubee, and the Fight Against Change
Before we jump in, let's get something straight.
Google doesn't "steal" your website. It crawls what you've made publicly available.
Every site on the internet can include a file called robots.txt. That file tells search engines what they're allowed to crawl, index, or skip. If you want to block search engines, you can - it's one line of code.
But if your robots.txt says "come on in", then your content is exposed to every crawler on the internet. That's how Google works. That's how your site gets found.
And it's not just about search engines anymore.
The way data is consumed online is changing fast.
As Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince recently (Q1 2025) put it:
Google a decade ago: 2 pages scraped for ~1 click
Google now: 15 pages scraped for 1 click
OpenAI: 1,200 pages scraped for 1 click
Anthropic: 6,000 pages scraped for 1 click
That's the reality today. Machines crawl, process, and structure the web at scale. Blocking that evolution with lawsuits isn't just shortsighted - it's pointless.
Let's talk about Ubee
Before even launching, Ubee got hit with a cease-and-desist from Centris and the APCIQ. The claim? That they were scraping data and using intellectual property that wasn't theirs. The narrative on social media spun quickly: "Ubee is illegal."
But here's the thing - they're not.
Centris leaves their site indexable. Their robots.txt explicitly allows most pages to be crawled. Ubee isn't accessing private databases or stealing anything behind a login. They're reading public data - the same way Google does. The same way your browser does.
And most importantly, the Superior Court of Québec agreed.
In a ruling on April 23, the judge found no evidence that Ubee had taken or misused Centris data. No injunction was granted. The case continues, but for now, Ubee can operate freely.
This isn't about scraping - it's about control
Let's be honest: this isn't a legal fight. It's a defensive reaction from legacy players trying to protect their territory.
Ubee is doing something different. It gives users choice - either list your home directly or connect with a broker on a fixed-fee model. It's not removing brokers from the equation. It's just giving people more control over how they sell.
That threatens a system where commissions are the norm, and platforms act as gatekeepers. So instead of competing on product or service, the instinct is to use legal pressure to slow things down.
But disruption doesn't wait.
AI is just getting started
If Centris is worried about Ubee reading public data, wait until OpenAI and Anthropic start doing it at scale. They won't just crawl a few listings - they'll process thousands, structure them, summarize them, and answer questions with real context. All using publicly available information.
Trying to fight that shift is like trying to stop the tide.
This could've been a win-win
What's frustrating is that Ubee could actually help Centris.
More visibility. More listings circulating. More traffic.
But instead of seeing opportunity, the reaction was fear.
We shouldn't be fighting innovation. We should be building with it.
Finding ways for new platforms to add value - not tear others down.
That's how you evolve. That's how ecosystems grow.
And at the end of the day, Ubee isn't the enemy.
They're just moving faster - and building for where the web is going, not where it used to be.
Final thoughts
Ubee isn't breaking the rules - they're just breaking the mold.
They're giving people more flexibility in how they buy and sell real estate, while respecting the limits of public data. The court sees it. Anyone looking at the facts sees it.
The future of the web is open, structured, and intelligent.
You can either embrace that shift - or be left behind by it.