Permission to index

Question

When search engines first start, do they need to get permission to index sites or can they do it without any permission?

If there is no permission required, then can't a site object for getting indexed? I know that a site won't do that but CAN it? Do you use that ROBOT file or something to do it?

Answer 1

You use the robots.txt file to tell search engines not to index what pages of your site etc. But not all search engine bots would honor your robots.txt.

In general public part of a website is meant to be public. I guess thats why nobody complains about indexing as well.

Answer 2

Thats a pretty smart question bro, but I dont think permission is required. If its on the net, anyone can use it, and thats about it.