Appeals Court Agrees with EFF that Building a Web Browser Doesn’t Violate the CFAA

Amazon's lawsuit against Perplexity AI to shut down its Comet browser, claiming it violated the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), has been dismissed by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The court's decision marks a significant win for Perplexity AI and sets a precedent for the development of web browsers. This means for website owners that they can expect increased innovation and competition in the web browser space, potentially leading to more advanced and specialized browsers like Comet. As a result, website owners may see changes in AI bot traffic patterns, as new browsers like Comet may have different bot detection and blocking capabilities. Website owners should be prepared to adapt their AI bot tracking strategies to account for these changes. To stay ahead, website owners can take the following actionable steps: review their llms.txt files to ensure they are up-to-date and compatible with new browsers, monitor AI bot traffic patterns to identify potential changes, and consider implementing browser-specific bot detection rules to maintain accurate tracking and blocking capabilities.