Data Scraping Update: 'LinkedIn v. hiQ' Answers Some Questions but Leaves Many More Open

2022 provided companies with further clarity and insight regarding legal claims that might be viable to stop data (or web) scraping and those that likely won’t work. Data scraping continues to become an increasingly popular method for obtaining structured data that is intentionally made public on websites (as opposed to data that inadvertently may be made public or made public through hacking or other illegal means). Many companies have employed the use of automatic tools to obtain large amounts of structured data in an efficient manner. On the other hand, many website owners are continuing to seek legal tools to prevent or limit this practice. This has resulted in a fair amount of litigation activity in the United States over recent years, typically involving two primary causes of action for website owners: (1) a violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, a federal law that prohibits intentionally accessing a computer without authorization or in excess of authorization; and (2) breaches of contract claiming violations of website terms and conditions of use that prohibit data scraping. Looking back on this past year’s developments, CFAA claims based on data scraping no longer appear to be viable. Thus, the legal evolution in
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