ImportantSecurity & Privacy
LinkedIn scanning users' browser extensions sparks controversy and two lawsuits
LinkedIn faces two class action lawsuits alleging it covertly scans users' browser extensions without adequate disclosure, potentially collecting sensitive data about religious beliefs, political affiliations, and health conditions—raising significant privacy compliance risks under US and EU regulations. The disputes stem from LinkedIn's stated goal of detecting abusive extensions but are being challenged as excessive surveillance that exceeds user consent and may involve undisclosed third-party data sharing. For IT leaders, this case underscores the critical importance of transparent data collection practices, privacy policy clarity, and the legal exposure of tracking technologies that could be interpreted as invasive surveillance.
Ars Technica2 min read
LinkedIn is facing two lawsuits over its practice of scanning users' browsers to determine which extensions they're running. Two class action complaints were filed by different law firms on behalf of different plaintiffs Monday in US District Court for the Northern District of California. Each complaint has one named plaintiff and seeks to represent a proposed class including all LinkedIn users in the US. The complaints seem to rely heavily on the recent "BrowserGate" report by a German entity called Fairlinked, which describes itself as a trade association and advocacy group for commercial LinkedIn users. Fairlinked appears to be run by the same people behind Teamfluence, an Estonian software company that sued LinkedIn in Munich in January. LinkedIn says Teamfluence distributed a browser extension that scraped LinkedIn user data in violation of the user agreement, and that its LinkedIn accounts were suspended.Read full article Comments