Hello fellow Web archivists!
Those of you in the United States will be pleased to learn that earlier today, the U.S. Ninth Circuit of Appeals ruled that "scraping" publicly accessible information from websites does not violate the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA). The case, Hiq Labs, Inc. v. LinkedIn Corporation, grew out of LinkedIn's efforts to prohibit Hiq from capturing information found in users' public profiles, and has been closely watched by Web archivists and academics who incorporate Web data into their research projects. LinkedIn has promised to appeal this decision, but the Ninth Circuit's decision follows a 2021 U.S. Supreme Court decision re: the CFAA's scope.
The court's ruling is available here:
https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/6460342/hiq-labs-inc-v-linkedin-corporation/?q=Ninth%20Circuit%20%20%22scraping%22%20%22linkedin%22&type=o&order_by=score%20desc&stat_Precedential=onSome media coverage:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/zacharysmith/2022/04/18/scraping-data-from-linkedin-profiles-is-legal-appeals-court-rules/?sh=369f56a52a9chttps://techcrunch.com/2022/04/18/web-scraping-legal-court/https://gizmodo.com/linkedin-scraping-data-legal-court-case-1848811335Best wishes,
Bonnie
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Bonita L. Weddle
Archives and Records Management Specialist 3
New York State Archives
9B31 Cultural Education Center
Albany, NY 12202
http://www.archives.nysed.gov/------------------------------