SAN FRANCISCO — Is the Internet a public forum where all sorts of speech and information gathering are allowed under the First Amendment? Or is it more like a piece of real estate where websites can bar entry to trespassers as they see fit?

Those were among the meaty questions tackled Thursday afternoon by two of the country's pre-eminent constitutional advocates—Munger, Tolles & Olson partner Donald Verrilli and Harvard Law School professor Laurence Tribe—in a bet-the-company case that has the potential to shape the future of the web.

The pair squared off in a case pitting Verrilli's client, professional networking site LinkedIn Corp., against hiQ Labs Inc., a data analytics startup represented by Tribe and lawyers from Farella Braun + Martel.

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