Craigslist, Inc v. 3Taps, Inc.
6 Analyses of this case by attorneys
Website Operator Permitted to Revoke Access of Previously Authorized User Under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act
Holland & Knight, LLPAugust 28, 2013
Further, courts have wrestled with the question of whether operators can revoke previously authorized access, and if so, how they must proceed to do so. Another case in this lineage came down recently from the Ninth Circuit as it denied defendant's motion to dismiss in Craigslist, Inc. v. 3Taps, Inc., 2013 WL 4447520 (N.D. Cal. Aug. 16, 2013). The plaintiff, the popular classified advertising website Craigslist, alleged that the defendant routinely collected Craiglist's content and then published it in real time to separate servers so as to allow it to replicate the site at its own domain name, craiggers.com.
Hacking the Computer Fraud And Abuse Act: The Supreme Court Narrows The Reach Of The CFAA’s “Exceeds Authorized Access” Provision
Vinson & Elkins LLPJennifer FreelJune 9, 2021
Justice Thomas dissented, joined by Justice Alito and Chief Justice Roberts.15Van Buren, 593 U.S. __ (slip op. at 1).16Id. at 5-16.17Id. at 11-12.18Id. at 17-18.19Id. at 18.20Id. at 19-20.21 18 U.S.C. § 1030(g).22See generally Jonathan Mayer, Cybercrime Litigation, 164 U. Penn. L. Rev. 1456, 1487 (2016); see also, e.g., Craigslist Inc. v. 3Taps Inc., 964 F. Supp. 2d 1178 (N.D. Cal. 2013) (allowing civil CFAA claim against website user); In re Intuit Privacy Litig., 138 F. Supp. 2d 1272 (C.D. Cal. 2001) (trade secrets); KCG Holdings, Inc.v. Khandekar, No. 17-cv-3533, 2020 WL 1189302 (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 12, 2020) (same).23 Id. at 1.24Id. at 13 n.8.
The CFAA: Shield or Anti-Competitive Sword in the World of Data Scraping?
Fish & Richardson P.C.Gus ColdebellaOctober 6, 2017
Two other cases are worth briefly discussing to set the stage. In Craigslist Inc. v. 3Taps Inc., 964 F. Supp. 2d 1178 (N.D. Cal., 2013), 3Taps was accused of scraping ads that were posted on Craigslist and republishing them on its own site. After Craigslist sent 3Taps a cease and desist letter, revoked its authorization to access its website, and blocked 3Taps’s IP address, 3Taps found its way around these measures by using different IP addresses and proxy servers to hide its identity and continue scraping.
District Court Rules that Startup Can Use Web Scrapers to Collect Information from Public LinkedIn Profiles, Despite Protests for LinkedIn
Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, LLPMargaret A. EsquenetSeptember 28, 2017
See id. at 1. The court’s decision stands in direct contrast to earlier decisions in cases such as, Craigslist Inc. v. 3Taps Inc., 2013 WL 4447520 (N.D. Cal. August 16, 2013), which have decided against the interests of web scrapers. Following LinkedIn’s cease and desist letter requesting that HiQ terminate its scraping of publicly available content from LinkedIn user profiles, and its use of various blocking techniques to prevent such data collection, hiQ filed a motion for preliminary injunction, claiming that it LinkedIn’s demands and actions were effectively driving hiQ out of business due to its reliance on LinkedIn’s public data.
District Court Rules that Startup Can Use Web Scrapers to Collect Information from Public LinkedOn Profiles, Despite Protests for LinkedIn
Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, LLPAugust 31, 2017
See id. at 1. The court’s decision stands in direct contrast to earlier decisions in cases such as, Craigslist Inc. v. 3Taps Inc., 2013 WL 4447520 (N.D. Cal. August 16, 2013), which have decided against the interests of web scrapers. Following LinkedIn’s cease and desist letter requesting that HiQ terminate its scraping of publicly available content from LinkedIn user profiles, and its use of various blocking techniques to prevent such data collection, hiQ filed a motion for preliminary injunction, claiming that it LinkedIn’s demands and actions were effectively driving hiQ out of business due to its reliance on LinkedIn’s public data.
Craigslist Files Another Suit against Data Scraper
Proskauer Rose LLPJeff NeuburgerJune 3, 2016
Such lack of “authorization” could form the basis of a viable claim under the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and state law counterpart. See Craigslist, Inc. v. 3Taps,Inc., 2013 WL 4447520 (N.D. Cal. Aug. 16, 2013). It remains to be seen whether the court will consider any of the issues in the RadPad dispute on the merits or whether the parties will resolve the matter with some agreed-upon restrictions limiting or barring RadPad’s access to craigslist’s site.
