A US federal judge has ruled that LinkedIn cannot prevent third parties from monitoring its publicly available data in a ruling that could have implications for sites across the internet.

The decision relates to a lawsuit brought by hiQ Labs, which analyses data to let businesses know how likely an employee is to leave. LinkedIn had been blocking hiQ from scraping its data, so the startup decided to file a lawsuit.

Judge Edward Chen of the US District Court of Northern California granted hiQ with a preliminary injunction and ordered LinkedIn to remove any technology preventing hiQ from accessing its data, according to Reuters. The Microsoft-owned business social network has confirmed that it will appeal the decision.

“We’re disappointed in the court’s ruling,” said a company spokesperson in a statement. “This case is not over. We will continue to fight to protect our members’ ability to control the information they make available on LinkedIn.”

If the decision does stand, it could mean big things in regards to the amount of control that websites have over their users’ public information, and this precedent may lead to more cases popping up in future.

Don’t forget to enter the Effective Mobile Marketing Awards. Weve extended the final deadline to 18 August, but times running out. More details here.