| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | LinkedIn security issue Thread poster: Susan Welsh
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| | | Nothing creepy about it :) | Feb 5, 2014 |
Andrea Muller wrote:
What I find creepy about LinkedIn is how they use information about your location.
I rent desk space in a shared office with an internet connection. I signed up to LinkedIn from that location, and immediately they displayed the other people working in my office as 'People You May Know'.
A new guy moved in and set up his computer on a day when I was not even in the office. He showed up as possible connection when I logged on to LinkedIn from my home computer.
There is nothing creepy about it. You share the workspace - you share the IP .
But back to topic. I do not approve this attempt of LinkedIn to sneak into your mailbox either. Rule of thumb - Never ever give anybody your e-mail/e-banking/forum/gaming or any other password. Never. Ever. Especially if you use the same (or very similar) password everywhere.
| | | | Oliver Walter 
United Kingdom
Local time: 23:44
German to English
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Two thoughts occur to me on reading this thread:
1. Change your email password.
2. If you want to quit LinkedIn, first edit your profile to remove as much information as possible from it. If the account remains in existence, as "dormant", presumably only the latest profile will still be there.
General comment: With all social, and similar, Internet networks, it's probably wise to supply only information that you would permit the whole world to know. Given the possibilit... See more Two thoughts occur to me on reading this thread:
1. Change your email password.
2. If you want to quit LinkedIn, first edit your profile to remove as much information as possible from it. If the account remains in existence, as "dormant", presumably only the latest profile will still be there.
General comment: With all social, and similar, Internet networks, it's probably wise to supply only information that you would permit the whole world to know. Given the possibility of "hacking", the whole world may well eventually have access to all of it, even if you chose to reveal it only to certain people.
Oliver ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Linkedin Is creepy | Feb 6, 2014 |
When I joined Linkedin, I had what I thought was the good idea of first creating a completely new email account, to use just for the Linkedin website.
I had no contacts in the address book, did not import any address book from any other site, there was very little info about me on my profile and I selected my profile to be private.
In the following few weeks, I found out that relatives, friends and other people who might know me were receiving notifications that I had a... See more When I joined Linkedin, I had what I thought was the good idea of first creating a completely new email account, to use just for the Linkedin website.
I had no contacts in the address book, did not import any address book from any other site, there was very little info about me on my profile and I selected my profile to be private.
In the following few weeks, I found out that relatives, friends and other people who might know me were receiving notifications that I had a profile on Linkedin and they were invited to connect.
I also found out that one of those relatives suddenly had an account with Linkedin too. Why is that creepy? Because that person didn't even have a clue of what Linkedin was and obviously never decided to join Linkedin.
I contacted Linkedin regarding my profile and the fact that it was supposed to be private and this is the reply I received:
"Your profile is not viewable when you make the profile private, however, your name is searchable. LinkedIn is a professional networking site, which allows people to connect with other members with similar jobs, education, and interests. If you had your full name and professional headline showing then you could be included in such emails. By making the changes to your name and headline that you have, you will no longer be included in that type of email. The changes that you recently made can take 24-72 hours to take full effect in our system.
If you have further questions, please feel free to reply to this message."
I DID have other questions.....they never replied.
The point is, if I set my profile to be private (whatever the reason), why is Linkedin allowed to distribute to people I may know or not know, the fact that I am on that website?
The way I see it, the fact that your name can be searchable is not the same as having your name distributed when you don't want your name to be advertised yet.
Especially, if that profile has to represent you as professionals.
Search is not the same as Distribution....
My account on Linkedin is pretty much empty now and I modified my name. I mainly use it to read about the few groups I am interested in.
I might be not open minded enough for Linkedin.....but I didn't like what they did.
[Edited at 2014-02-06 12:51 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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Shai Navé
Israel
Local time: 01:44
English to Hebrew
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| Cross-referencing | Feb 6, 2014 |
LinkedIn and any other platform might seem creepy (and possibly are) if you ignore how they work and how people conduct their lives these days.
Data sharing is a two-way street. Assume that one is using an email address and was registered with it to a social network but doesn't have any contacts associated with it, and assume that one uses that email address to connect with people outside of a prying eyes of certain platform. This doesn't mean that the other party didn't disclose hi... See more LinkedIn and any other platform might seem creepy (and possibly are) if you ignore how they work and how people conduct their lives these days.
Data sharing is a two-way street. Assume that one is using an email address and was registered with it to a social network but doesn't have any contacts associated with it, and assume that one uses that email address to connect with people outside of a prying eyes of certain platform. This doesn't mean that the other party didn't disclose his or her contacts to that platform, which then crossed-reference the data to come up with that suggestion. Also in this day and age there are plenty of other resources to harvest information from, starting from geo-location (based on IP address and/or GPS) that allows better guesstimate about any potential relationships between two "names" or email address, through LinkedIn own work history and group memberships (that helps refine suggestion by time and place), to data harvesting from other sources (including telephone numbers).
The lack of privacy might be worrying, but it is not creepy considering how the mechanism works. Profiling and cross-referencing information (that could be even shared by others - this is the biggest issue, I think - people who share information about other people without their consent) are huge part of any web operation, and LinkedIn potentially more than others (it is all about so-called 'networking' after-all), and the masses, unfortunately, are happy to oblige and provide endless streams of information, even about others (a lot of time indirectly).
You just have to be smart about it and manage your online identity by limiting your exposure to those avenue that you see some utility in, and carefully choosing what to share. "Creepy" connections will pop-up with time no matter what, many of those are probably the result of information shared by others and information that was indirectly and/or unintentional shared by one. ▲ Collapse
| | | | John Fossey
Canada
Local time: 18:44
Member (2008)
French to English
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| Other people's data | Feb 6, 2014 |
The fact is, it doesn't really help not giving LinkedIn your details, they will figure them out from somewhere else. For example, I have realized that OTHER people have uploaded their address book with my email address in it. When 2 or 3 people upload their address book and all have my email address in it, LinkedIn starts making the connections without me having anything to do with it. When someone then views one those people's profiles, LinkedIn makes the connection that I might know that th... See more The fact is, it doesn't really help not giving LinkedIn your details, they will figure them out from somewhere else. For example, I have realized that OTHER people have uploaded their address book with my email address in it. When 2 or 3 people upload their address book and all have my email address in it, LinkedIn starts making the connections without me having anything to do with it. When someone then views one those people's profiles, LinkedIn makes the connection that I might know that third person, and often they're right. Meanwhile, I never told LinkedIn anything about my contacts.
But personally, I don't care. I have got business through LinkedIn and I have also kept track of client contacts who have changed jobs - in that case, without LinkedIn I would have no idea where they had gone. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Class action | Feb 14, 2014 |
The Misha wrote:
Also, do some research to see if similar complaints have already been lodged and if there's already a class action in the works that you could join. If not, see if you can get some feelers out to lawyers that may be interested in cooking one up.
In case someone is interested, there is a class action already:
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/09/linkedin-sued-by-users-who-say-it-hacked-their-e-mail-accounts/
John Fossey wrote:
The fact is, it doesn't really help not giving LinkedIn your details, they will figure them out from somewhere else. For example, I have realized that OTHER people have uploaded their address book with my email address in it. When 2 or 3 people upload their address book and all have my email address in it, LinkedIn starts making the connections without me having anything to do with it. When someone then views one those people's profiles, LinkedIn makes the connection that I might know that third person, and often they're right. Meanwhile, I never told LinkedIn anything about my contacts.
Also, if you don't have a profile and 2 or 3 people upload their address book with your contact in it, LinkedIn will create what looks like a profile, a placeholder with your name and e-mail visible, and throw it at people you may (or may not) know. Showing your e-mail address in clear. I realized this a couple of days ago when I saw my husband's address in the "People you may know" section, and I know for sure he's not on LinkedIn. I had never realized that those names were mixed, real profiles (with the "connect" button) and these placeholders (with "join network" or something).
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