Amazon-Perplexity Showdown: Watchdogs Intervene in Court Battle

A court battle between Amazon and artificial intelligence company Perplexity is heating up. Digital rights watchdogs have filed a friend-of-the-court brief urging an appellate court to lift an injunction banning Perplexity's shopping agent, Comet, from Amazon.

The injunction was handed down by U.S. District Court Judge Maxine Chesney in March after finding that Perplexity likely violated the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) by accessing Amazon users' accounts with their permission but without Amazon's authorization.

Perplexity is appealing this ruling, and a temporary stay has been granted by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, Mozilla, and other groups argue that Chesney's interpretation of the CFAA is 'antithetical to foundational principles of the open internet.'

The watchdogs claim that Amazon's actions would give private companies veto power over how users access publicly available information on their websites.