Online Trespass to Chattels Needs Structural Reform (Forbes Cross-Post)
…* websites may assert online trespass to chattels when a third party’s automated script gather information from their website (a process sometimes called “scraping” or “spidering”). Technically, search engine spiders…
Anti-Scraping Lawsuits Are Going Crazy in the Real Estate Industry (Catch-Up Post)
…We’ll have to wait and see. _____ Eric’s Comments Scraping always raises interesting policy and theory issues, so from that standpoint I’m disappointed we don’t see more scraping lawsuits or…
Search Engine Developer Sues Facebook for Disallowing Access to User Data — Profile Technology v. Facebook (Catch-Up Post)
…industry custom and practice. In 2010, Facebook began blocking PT’s automated crawlers from scraping the profile data. Facebook’s attorneys also sent a letter to PT denying that they had authorization…
The Proposed “Cloud Computing Act of 2012,” and How Internet Regulation Can Go Awry (Forbes Cross-Post)
…into a general-purpose federal law against trespassing on anyone else’s computers. With that breadth, the CFAA extends to a wide variety of activities, ranging from data scraping (see, e.g., EF…
Craigslist’s Latest Moves Show It Cares More About Its Market Position Than Delivering Value to Its Users (Forbes Cross-Post)
By Eric Goldman Craigslist is resorting to increasingly desperate measures to control its users’ classified ad listings. Last month, Craigslist sued 3Taps and Padmapper for scraping and repackaging its classified…
Ex-Employee’s Access/Misuse of Employer Files States CFAA Claim — Weingand v. Harland Financial
…the moment they leave employment. If this latter distinction is true, then the CFAA remains a potent threat in the scraping context. Putting aside the CFAA issues for a moment,…
4th Circuit Limits the Reach of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act – WEC Carolina Energy Solutions v. Miller
…more likely. I’m curious about how this case affects the availability of a CFAA claim in the scraping context. I thought the court’s comment about the viability of a CFAA…
Granick on CISPA’s Deficiencies (With Some of My Own Comments)
…it defines cybersecurity issues to include ordinary Internet activities such as competitive scraping and sharing of copyrighted materials. The broad sweep of the bill only reinforces the lack of a…
Comments on the Ninth Circuit’s En Banc Ruling in U.S. v. Nosal
…decision may affect similar lawsuits in the future. (The two statutes are not identical and it’s unclear as to whether a network could prohibit scraping or other unauthorized access.) There’s…
Judge Can’t Decide if Facebook’s User Agreement is a Browsewrap, But He Enforces It Anyways–Fteja v. Facebook
…v. Supplements Togo * Anti-Scraping Lawsuit Largely Gutted–Cvent v. Eventbrite * Interesting Database Scraping Case Survives Summary Judgment–Snap-On Business Solutions v. O’Neil * Clickthrough Agreement With Acknowledgement Checkbox Enforced–Scherillo v….