A 403 Forbidden is not accident according to the W3.org;
The server understood the request, but is refusing to fulfill it. Authorization will not help and the request SHOULD NOT be repeated. If the request method was not HEAD and the server wishes to make public why the request has not been fulfilled, it SHOULD describe the reason for the refusal in the entity. If the server does not wish to make this information available to the client, the status code 404 (Not Found) can be used instead.
A moderator over at SEO Chat is getting this 403 error when conducting any search over at Google. Some report that this only occurs when using Internet Explorer, can it be spyware?
Others feel it might have to do with one of the following reasons, and I quote:
- You're using a dialup line (with dynamic IP), and there are some search-spammers using the same provider.
- Someones's using your PC as a zombie for search-spamming.
- You're using a proxy (maybe even transparent) that is been used heavily by a spammer.