It is recommended that you use the API that google provides for searching, but I fail to see why telnetting would be illegal. After all, both firefox and telnet use sockets to do their job.
Again, the comment above wasn't meant to be taken literally, but just because they both use sockets doesn't mean they're just as legal.
Imagine a web site which terms of service state you cannot use software to circumvent ads. Or where part of the security is done client-side (stupid, yes, but not impossible). Skipping the browser breaches at least the terms of service, and may be constructed as hacking. I think even Google discourages automated searching and prefers you use its api, which (at least some years ago) wasn't free for commercial use. I may be wrong in this particular case, but the important point is you may want to check the specific TOS before skipping the browser.
