The CFAA seems to have had new life breathed into it with the US Court of the Northern District of California allowing a Computer Fraud and Abuse Act claim to move forward based on an alleged breach of LinkedIn's terms of service. Recently thought to be dead, its death seems to have been greatly exaggerated and underscores the importance of an enforceable (click-wrap) terms of use for websites.
"Today in the hiQ legal proceeding, the court announced a
significant win for LinkedIn and our members against personal data
scraping, among other platform abuses. The court ruled that
LinkedIn's user agreement clearly prohibits scraping of member
profile data and the use of fake accounts, affirming LinkedIn's
legal positions against hiQ for the past six years. The court also
found that hiQ knew for years that its actions violated our user
agreement, and that LinkedIn is entitled to move forward with its
claim that hiQ violated the Computer Fraud and Abuse
Act."
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