Facebook Can Block Scraper (For Now)–Facebook v. BrandTotal
BrandTotal offered a Chrome extension called “UpVoice.” Once installed, the extension allegedly scraped public and non-public information from the users’ Facebook and Instagram accounts. Facebook attempted to crack down on the extension. It terminated BrandTotal’s Facebook and Instagram pages and…
One Minute Spent Reviewing a Junk Fax Received via Email is Not Injury for Article III Purposes
This is a junk fax case. Plaintiff (Daisy), a corporation, used Vonage to receive faxes. It received a junk fax, but rather than receiving it on its fax machine, Daisy received the fax via email, as a .pdf. Daisy alleged…
hiQ Labs v. LinkedIn Corp., the Web Scraping Saga Continues (Guest Blog Post)
by guest blogger Kieran McCarthy hiQ Labs v. LinkedIn Corp. is arguably the most important case in the history of web-scraping jurisprudence. In 2019, the Ninth Circuit concluded that “when a computer network generally permits public access to its data,…
Facial Recognition Database Vendor May Not Qualify for Section 230–Vermont v. Clearview
As you recall, Clearview AI is a facial recognition database vendor. Some law enforcement departments have adopted its service, but we aren’t sure how many. We also aren’t sure about its facial recognition accuracy (or, for that matter, how much…
A Closer Look at a Troubling Anti-Scraping Ruling from Spring–Compulife Software v. Newman (Guest Blog Post)
by guest blogger Kieran McCarthy Compulife Software, Inc. v. Newman is the first circuit court case in more than half a decade to expand liability for web scrapers under state and federal law. The two most recent circuit court opinions…
Another Court Significantly Limits the Scope of Criminal CFAA–Sandvig v. Barr
The plaintiffs want to create fake job profiles to research algorithmic discrimination. Fearing that their research activities would expose them to criminal CFAA prosecution, they challenged the CFAA as violating their First Amendment rights. Venkat blogged a preliminary ruling in…
Ninth Circuit Says LinkedIn Wrongly Blocked HiQ’s Scraping Efforts
Fans of scraping cases may rejoice. The Ninth Circuit issued its long-awaited opinion in the hiQ v. LinkedIn case (it was argued in March 2018, so the opinion took about 18 months). It rules in favor of hiQ. hiQ was…
2H 2018 Quick Links, Part 4 (Trespass, Contracts)
Trespass * Ryanair v. Expedia, 2018 WL 3727599 (W.D. Wash. Aug. 6, 2018). CFAA can apply when a US company scrapes data from an international website. * Jackie’s Enterprises, Inc. v. Belleville 2018 N.Y. Slip Op. 07225 (N.Y. App. Div….
Video Advertising Contract Descends Into Possible “Cyberattack”–Radian Weapons v. GY6Vids
This is a lawsuit between Radian Weapons and GY6Vids, a company that Radian hired to promote Radian’s products on YouTube. (GY’s YouTube channel currently has almost seven hundred thousand subscribers. Press coverage of the lawsuit from The Bulletin here.) The…
Researchers’ Challenge to CFAA Moves Forward–Sandvig v. Sessions
This is a lawsuit brought by four professors and a media organization (First Look, publisher of the Intercept). Plaintiffs study real estate, finance, and employment transactions and seek to highlight the discriminatory effects of algorithms. To do so, they create…