{"schema_version":"0.10.0","id":"LR-2026-0452","record_version":1,"title":"Federal judge blocks Perplexity's AI browser from making Amazon purchases","verification":{"human_verified":false,"method":"automated_gate","auto_verified":true,"score":46.2,"score_breakdown":{"source_authority":12.1,"independent_corroboration":7.0,"implicated_party_confirmed":0.0,"citation_integrity":14.0,"specificity":3.0,"completeness":3.2,"unhedged_language":4.62},"checks":{"schema_valid":true,"every_field_cited":true,"quotes_verbatim":true,"source_fetched":true,"distinct_incident":true,"dates_plausible":true,"sources_agree":true,"source_describes_incident":true,"severe_backed_by_source":true,"record_integrity":true,"eligible":true,"about_this_case":true},"gate_version":"gate-2026-10-18.7","cross_check_model":null,"cross_check_agreement":null,"duplicate_of":null,"verified_by":null,"verified_at":"2026-11-01","extraction_run_id":null,"evidence_level":{"level":"preliminary","reason":"1 report: CyberScoop · subject to change","original_document":null,"reports_total":1,"reports_independent":1,"reports_derivative":0,"developing":false,"disputed":false,"rules_version":"evidence-2026-10-29.1","computed_at":"2026-11-01","history":[{"date":"2026-11-01","from_level":null,"to_level":"preliminary","reason":"1 report: CyberScoop · subject to change"}]},"sources_hash":"8ea4a344b1df8dd971a4321560b0e5c98dc9c178b64820e7d3ee1cf8c6726261"},"system":{"model_name":null,"model_version":null,"developer":"Perplexity","harness":null,"tools_granted":[],"permissions_scope":"Access to password-protected Amazon user accounts with user permission but without Amazon authorization","autonomy_level":"unknown","guardrails_present":[],"deployment_context":"unknown","tier":null,"lifecycle_stage":null,"integration_type":null,"intended_use":"Making purchases in Amazon accounts on users' behalf","safeguard_state":null,"production_intended":null},"event":{"date_occurred":null,"date_disclosed":"2026-03-10","incident_class":"security_compromise","failure_class":null,"agent_involved":null,"secondary_failure_classes":[],"trigger":"unknown","duration":null,"detection_method":"unknown","summary":"Perplexity's Comet AI browser made purchases on users' behalf in Amazon accounts, and Amazon disputed this. Amazon said the agents made mistakes, interfered with its algorithm and created security risks, and alleged that Perplexity's agents covertly posed as human traffic despite repeated requests to stop. Amazon sent a cease-and-desist letter on October 31, 2025. On March 9, 2026, a federal judge issued a temporary injunction, finding Amazon likely to succeed on claims under computer fraud and access statutes. Perplexity must stop Comet from accessing Amazon user accounts and must delete the Amazon account and customer data it collected. Perplexity argued that users had authorised the purchases. The court sided with Amazon on the public interest. Perplexity did not respond to a request for comment at press time.","tags":[],"date_detected":null,"near_miss":null,"root_cause":null,"root_cause_detail":null,"failure_class_detail":null,"responsible_party":null,"adversarial_actor":null,"input_provenance":null,"time_to_contain":null,"operations_paused":null,"remediation":null,"precursor_events":null},"impact":{"direct_loss_usd":null,"remediation_hours":null,"records_exposed":null,"third_parties_affected_count":null,"severity":"moderate","severity_because":"Test: moderate, data of others touched with bounded scope. Fact: the order requires deletion of Amazon account and customer data the browser collected; no count of affected users is stated.","harm_class":[],"affected_description":"Amazon user accounts and customer data","protected_class_involved":null,"data_categories_exposed":[],"loss_range_usd":null,"reversibility":null,"downstream_exposure_count":null},"evidence":{"sources":[{"url":"https://cyberscoop.com/amazon-perplexity-comet-browser-injunction/","publisher":"CyberScoop","date":"2026-03-10","type":"press","title":"Federal judge blocks Perplexity’s AI browser from making Amazon purchases - CyberScoop","archived_url":null,"attachment":"first_report","independence":"independent"}],"per_field_confidence":{"system.developer":"C","system.permissions_scope":"C","system.intended_use":"C","impact.affected_description":"C","event.incident_class":"D","impact.severity":"D","impact.severity_because":"D","event.summary":"C","system.autonomy_level":"D","system.deployment_context":"D","event.trigger":"D","event.detection_method":"D","context.country":"D","event.date_disclosed":"D","context.denominator_available":"D"},"field_citations":{"system.developer":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"A federal judge has blocked Perplexity, makers of the Comet AI browser, from accessing user Amazon accounts and making purchases on their behalf."}],"system.permissions_scope":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The court held that Amazon “has provided strong evidence that Perplexity, through its Comet browser, accesses with the Amazon user’s permission but without authorization by Amazon, the user’s password-protected account.”"}],"system.intended_use":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"A federal judge has blocked Perplexity, makers of the Comet AI browser, from accessing user Amazon accounts and making purchases on their behalf."}],"impact.affected_description":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"A federal judge has blocked Perplexity, makers of the Comet AI browser, from accessing user Amazon accounts and making purchases on their behalf."}],"event.incident_class":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The court held that Amazon “has provided strong evidence that Perplexity, through its Comet browser, accesses with the Amazon user’s permission but without authorization by Amazon, the user’s password-protected account.”"}],"impact.severity":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Perplexity must also delete all Amazon account and customer data it collected along the way."}],"impact.severity_because":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Perplexity must also delete all Amazon account and customer data it collected along the way."}],"event.summary":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"A federal judge has blocked Perplexity, makers of the Comet AI browser, from accessing user Amazon accounts and making purchases on their behalf."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"Amazon has explicitly denied them such permission, saying the agents make mistakes, interfere with Amazon’s own algorithm and place their users at an elevated cybersecurity risk."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"But they alleged Perplexity executives “refused to operate transparently and have instead taken affirmative steps to conceal its agentic activities in the Amazon Store,” including configuring their software to covertly pose as human traffic."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"In a cease-and-desist letter sent to Perplexity Oct. 31, 2025, attorney Moez Kaba of law firm Hueston Hennigan wrote to Perplexity, alleging the automated purchases degrade the online shopping experience for Amazon customers."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"In an March 9 order, Judge Maxine Chesney of the Northern District Court of California said the temporary injunction reflects the likelihood that Amazon “will succeed on the merits” of its claim that Perplexity’s AI agents violate the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and the Comprehensive Computer Data Access and Fraud Act."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"Per the ruling, Perplexity must prohibit Comet from accessing, attempting to access, assisting, instructing or providing the means for others to access Amazon user accounts."}]},"notes_on_gaps":"The sources do not state the model name, version, harness, autonomy level, deployment context or lifecycle stage. The date the agent activity began and the date it was detected are not stated; the cease-and-desist date and the March 9, 2026 order date are not occurrence dates. No disclosure date is stated in the body text. No failure_class was set because no autonomous agent failure type is stated. Amazon's allegations were not adjudicated; the order is a temporary injunction based on likelihood of success. Judgements made: developer taken from the press description of Perplexity as makers of Comet; country US from the Northern District of California court; incident_class security_compromise is my classification of unauthorised account access; control B5 mapped as got_around from the allegation of covert posing as human traffic; severity moderate because data of others is touched and the order bounds the scope to Amazon accounts, with no affected-user count stated; the browser-blocking tools are recorded as Amazon's fix mapped to J5. Direct loss is not stated beyond 'significantly more' than $5,000, so no figure was recorded. Perplexity did not respond to a request for comment. [case created by the backfill: read by claude-haiku-5-5, backfill-2026-11-01.2, 2026-11-01; not yet reviewed] [2026-11-01: evidence level set: Preliminary (1 report: CyberScoop · subject to change)]"},"context":{"industry":null,"org_size_band":null,"country":"unknown","denominator_available":false,"denominator":null,"related_incident_ids":[],"systemic_exposure":null,"shared_model_id":null,"upstream_incident_id":null,"incident_evidence":null,"regulatory":null,"coverage":null},"narrative":{"steps":[{"step":"doing","text":"Perplexity's Comet AI browser made purchases on users' behalf in their Amazon accounts.","quote":"A federal judge has blocked Perplexity, makers of the Comet AI browser, from accessing user Amazon accounts and making purchases on their behalf.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"},{"step":"reached","text":"Amazon alleged the agents covertly posed as human traffic in its store.","quote":"But they alleged Perplexity executives “refused to operate transparently and have instead taken affirmative steps to conceal its agentic activities in the Amazon Store,” including configuring their software to covertly pose as human traffic.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"},{"step":"caught","text":"A federal court issued a temporary injunction on March 9, 2026, finding Amazon likely to succeed on its claims.","quote":"In an March 9 order, Judge Maxine Chesney of the Northern District Court of California said the temporary injunction reflects the likelihood that Amazon “will succeed on the merits” of its claim that Perplexity’s AI agents violate the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and the Comprehensive Computer Data Access and Fraud Act.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"}],"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"backfill-2026-11-01.2","extracted_at":"2026-11-01","source_urls":["https://cyberscoop.com/amazon-perplexity-comet-browser-injunction/"]},"analysis":{"sections":{"timeline":[{"text":"Amazon's law firm sent Perplexity a cease-and-desist letter alleging automated purchases degraded the shopping experience.","quote":"In a cease-and-desist letter sent to Perplexity Oct. 31, 2025, attorney Moez Kaba of law firm Hueston Hennigan wrote to Perplexity, alleging the automated purchases degrade the online shopping experience for Amazon customers.","source_index":0,"when":"2025-10-31"},{"text":"Federal judge issued a temporary injunction blocking Perplexity's Comet from accessing Amazon accounts.","quote":"In an March 9 order, Judge Maxine Chesney of the Northern District Court of California said the temporary injunction reflects the likelihood that Amazon “will succeed on the merits” of its claim that Perplexity’s AI agents violate the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and the Comprehensive Computer Data Access and Fraud Act.","source_index":0,"when":"2026-03-09"}]},"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"backfill-2026-11-01.2","extracted_at":"2026-11-01","source_urls":["https://cyberscoop.com/amazon-perplexity-comet-browser-injunction/"]}}