Scraping: U.S. Judge Says LinkedIn Cannot Block Startup From Public Profile Data

From Reuters:

A U.S. federal judge on Monday ruled that Microsoft Corp’s LinkedIn unit cannot prevent a startup from accessing public profile data, in a test of how much control a social media site can wield over information its users have deemed to be public.

U.S. District Judge Edward Chen in San Francisco granted a preliminary injunction request brought by hiQ Labs, and ordered LinkedIn to remove within 24 hours any technology preventing hiQ from accessing public profiles.

The case is considered to have implications beyond LinkedIn and hiQ Labs and could dictate just how much control companies have over publicly available data that is hosted on their services.

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Filed under: Data Files, News, Patrons and Users, Profiles