hiQ v LinkedIn (9th Cir. Apr 2022): scraping publicly accessible data likely doesn't violate CFAA — but hiQ still settled for $500K

Claim: Ninth Circuit (April 18, 2022) reaffirmed that scraping publicly accessible data likely does not violate the CFAA's "without authorization" provision.

Source: https://www.jenner.com/en/news-insights/publications/client-alert-data-scraping-in-hiq-v-linkedin-the-ninth-circuit-reaffirms-narrow-interpretation-of-cfaa

Confidence: Verified.

The cautionary tale: December 2022, hiQ stipulated to a $500,000 judgment and permanent injunction — found liable for breach of LinkedIn's User Agreement (logged-in scraping + use of fake accounts).

Source: https://www.privacyworld.blog/2022/12/linkedins-data-scraping-battle-with-hiq-labs-ends-with-proposed-judgment/

The bifurcation:

• Logged-off scraping of public data — generally permissible under CFAA
• Logged-in scraping or accepting ToS — contract-based liability persists

For Candid use: Open-data feeds (StatCan, EIA, MSC) sidestep BOTH the CFAA question AND the contract trap. OGL-Canada is "perpetual"; ToS can change overnight. See Meta v Bright Data (Jan 2024, N.D. Cal.): Facebook/Instagram terms don't bar logged-off scraping of public data for the further-extended precedent and RULE: Build Candid client data products on official open-data feeds — never on scraped sources.