DC Bar Tussles With Lawyer Ranking Site Avvo Over Use of Online Information
The District of Columbia Bar has warned Avvo that it will pursue “any and all available remedies” if the lawyer ranking website doesn’t remove information acquired from the bar.
The bar association sent a cease and desist letter to Avvo on Jan. 27, the Washington Post reports. The bar contends Avvo took website information for commercial purposes in violation of the bar’s terms of use, according to a message to members posted online.
“This has nothing to do with obstructing access to information,” D.C. Bar spokeswoman Cynthia Kuhn told the Post. “It has to do with a commercial company taking this information without authorization and in some cases perpetuating misinformation” by not updating the data frequently enough.
The letter, written by Sidley Austin lawyer Timothy Webster, contends Avvo is violating an anti-hacking law known as the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, according to Washington Times.
At least two states—Illinois and Connecticut—have balked at providing Avvo with lawyer information. New Jersey agreed last spring to release lawyer records.
Not everyone agrees with the D.C. Bar’s stance. Georgetown University law professor Rebecca Tushnet told the Post that the bar association’s restrictions on use are “ridiculously overreaching” and it’s wrong for the bar to stand in the way of the use of public information. “The basic question is, can that little notice at the bottom of every website actually be a binding contract?” she said.
