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LinkedIn violated data protection by using 18M email addresses of non-members

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Re: LinkedIn violated data protection by using 18M email addresses of non-members

#51

I am 99% sure LinkedIN used my IP address to match with my second floor neighbor, despite their claims that they would never use IP address as a connection data point. I was sharing my wifi for a brief period with my neighbors on the second floor. My neighbor had a new room mate. The guy was from another country. He didn't work in the same industry I do. I didn't have any of his contact information anywhere on any of…

linkedIn was suggesting people that were using the same wifi network as I was. I thought this was spooky — I could see more info about my hotel guests than they probably realized.

LinkedIn definitely uses same IP address to suggest connections. My wife as suggested connection really stood up in this way for many reasons (profile recently created, a few connections from the other side of the world and in a totally different industry).

Re: LinkedIn violated data protection by using 18M email addresses of non-members

#52
post #39

Unrelated but I'd like take this opportunity to write that the "switch to our app" popup on the LinkedIn mobile site is super annoying. It shows up every time I open the site on mobile browser. On several occasions in attempts of closing the popup I've accidentally clicked on advertisements (Promoted posts) or 'liked' someone's post. And then you see more such promoted posts as they think you like them. If anyone fro…

Li is aware. “Install our app” nag is by design, and is now part of the pantheon of user hostile web de-facto standards.

Its a typical user engagement trick. If you install the app then you have a constant advert on your home screen and they have the ability to constantly spam you with reengagement notifications

Re: LinkedIn violated data protection by using 18M email addresses of non-members

#53
What I don't get is why Jeff Weiner and Reid Hoffman are never held accountable for their blatant disregard for user privacy despite many lawsuits over the years. Why is their reputation still so in tact even when Zuck/Sandberg's is hurting over the exact same privacy violations? Why is Reid Hoffman today selling a book on "blitzscaling" which is all about achieving hypergrowth at all cost? Could you imagine how tone deaf it would be if it was Zuckerberg who authored that and not Hoffman?

Re: LinkedIn violated data protection by using 18M email addresses of non-members

#54
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An e-mail hash is more specific than an IP address, yet from what I read on HN, IP addresses are considered PII by GDPR.

IP addresses are more promiscuous than email addresses--i.e. your family and neighbors are relatively likely to share an address and/or subnet. That means that your family can see ads targeted at your bad habits that they might not otherwise be aware of.

I regularly see YouTube recommendations for the stuff my bf is watching and we don't share a computer and he is not logged in to YouTube.

Re: LinkedIn violated data protection by using 18M email addresses of non-members

#55

What I don't get is why Jeff Weiner and Reid Hoffman are never held accountable for their blatant disregard for user privacy despite many lawsuits over the years. Why is their reputation still so in tact even when Zuck/Sandberg's is hurting over the exact same privacy violations? Why is Reid Hoffman today selling a book on "blitzscaling" which is all about achieving hypergrowth at all cost? Could you imagine how tone…

Just remember it's Microsoft now. I wonder if this fits under GDPR violation?

Re: LinkedIn violated data protection by using 18M email addresses of non-members

#56
post #46
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect that information can be obtained in ways other than IP addresses. Close enough to be the same thing, but enough distance to state, “we’re not tracking IP addresses”, and have their lawyers approve.

Just hashes of IP addresses

I knew a guy who worked in an industry where using SSNs for identifying people was illegal. Their solution was to prefix the SSN with a leading one. Compliance.

Re: LinkedIn violated data protection by using 18M email addresses of non-members

#57

I am 99% sure LinkedIN used my IP address to match with my second floor neighbor, despite their claims that they would never use IP address as a connection data point. I was sharing my wifi for a brief period with my neighbors on the second floor. My neighbor had a new room mate. The guy was from another country. He didn't work in the same industry I do. I didn't have any of his contact information anywhere on any of…

Ultrasound device identification? Had you two your phones on with the web-side loaded while meeting?

Re: LinkedIn violated data protection by using 18M email addresses of non-members

#58
post #39

Unrelated but I'd like take this opportunity to write that the "switch to our app" popup on the LinkedIn mobile site is super annoying. It shows up every time I open the site on mobile browser. On several occasions in attempts of closing the popup I've accidentally clicked on advertisements (Promoted posts) or 'liked' someone's post. And then you see more such promoted posts as they think you like them. If anyone fro…

Li is aware. “Install our app” nag is by design, and is now part of the pantheon of user hostile web de-facto standards.

You have to wonder where the ethics are on the ground level. I understand that these decisions are made by management in virtually every case, but you still see these kind of dark patterns from places where every engineer is on $100k+ with plenty of leverage against their employer.

Re: LinkedIn violated data protection by using 18M email addresses of non-members

#59
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reminds me of that mobile popup I always get that tells me to download their mobile app when I'm viewing Linkedin on a mobile phone and I can't move on unless I press something.

Reddit is almost unusable on mobile browsers because of this.

I'm normally a mobile web kind of guy - eBay, Facebook, Amazon etc. But Reddit is too bad, I just have to use Sync.

Re: LinkedIn violated data protection by using 18M email addresses of non-members

#60
Having deleted my account months ago, I still keep receiving an email about one particular guy (who I don't know) wanting to become part of my network. I tried their unsubscribe link multiple times, to no avail. First I just didn't want to have an account anymore, now I hate them.
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