[Infowarrior] - Microsoft ordered to let third parties scrape LinkedIn data

[Richard Forno]

Microsoft ordered to let third parties scrape LinkedIn data

by Tom Warren at tomwarren Aug 15, 2017, 5:44am EDT

https://www.theverge.com/2017/8/15/16148250/microsoft-linkedin-third-party-data-access-judge-ruling

A judge has ruled that Microsoft’s LinkedIn network must allow a third-party company to scrape data publicly posted by LinkedIn users. The Wall Street Journal reports that the ruling is part of a lawsuit brought by hiQ Labs, a startup that analyzes LinkedIn data to estimate whether workers are likely to leave their jobs. LinkedIn previously ordered hiQ Labs to stop scraping its data, and the startup fired back with a lawsuit.

A US District Judge has granted hiQ Labs with a preliminary injunction that provides access to LinkedIn data. LinkedIn tried to argue that hiQ Labs violated the 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act by scraping data. The judge raised concerns around LinkedIn “unfairly leveraging its power in the professional networking market for an anticompetitive purpose,” and compared LinkedIn’s argument to allowing website owners to “block access by individuals or groups on the basis of race or gender discrimination.”

LinkedIn says it’s “disappointed in the court’s ruling,” in a statement. ”This case is not over. We will continue to fight to protect our members’ ability to control the information they make available on LinkedIn.”

LinkedIn’s data is a key part of the site, and one of the main reasons why Microsoft acquired the social networking site for $26 billion last year. LinkedIn has more than 400 million members and around 2 million paid subscribers, making it a rich trove of data for Microsoft and other companies to access.