Appeals Court Agrees with EFF that Building a Web Browser Doesn’t Violate the CFAA
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the Electronic Frontier Foundation's position that building a web browser does not violate the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, rejecting Amazon's claim that Perplexity AI's browser-based shopping assistant accessed Amazon without authorization. The court found that because users control the tool, Perplexity itself is unlikely to bear liability under the CFAA.
Why this matters: Amazon tried to use a federal hacking law to shut down a competitor's browser. That should alarm anyone who cares about how the internet works. The CFAA was written to stop unauthorized intrusions, not to let companies decide which software their customers are allowed to use. If Amazon's theory had held, any company could effectively veto browsers, extensions, or tools that cut into their business by calling them unauthorized access. This ruling keeps that door closed, at least for now, and keeps users in control of their own browsing.
Who should care: Lawyers · Privacy officers · Compliance · General readers · AI governance · Policy
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