LinkedIn’s Being Sued in a California Class Action

A class action has been filed in San Jose Federal Court in the Northern District of California alleging that LinkedIn “harvests email addresses and sends multiple reminder emails, ostensibly on behalf of the user, advertising LinkedIn to non-members.” The class action filing goes on to allege that LinkedIn promotes its services by accessing users contacts’ email information and repeatedly emailing said users to request them to join on behalf of the plaintiffs. The suit states that these endorsement emails also contain the name and likeness of the existing users, making it appear as though these emails originate from them, endorse LinkedIn’s services, and want to email them repeatedly at their own behest. Personally, I’ve had my own share of run-ins with LinkedIn’s strange marketing and privacy practices. For instance, I’ve had random propagation of automatic “Let’s Connect” invitations sent to contacts from my address book I unwittingly uploaded. Similarly, I’ve noticed that the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy of LinkedIn are drafted quite generously in terms of what they are allowed to data-mine from you. In my humble opinion, the default privacy settings for LinkedIn are not set in favor of a privacy-conscious user.

Sources: http://www.mainstreet.com/article/smart-spending/technology/class-action-suit-alleges-linkedin-utilizes-illegal-marketing-prac?page=1 http://www.interactually.com/linkedin-creepiest-social-network/

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