Setting the Record Straight on False Accusations

http://blog.linkedin.com/2013/09/21/setting-the-record-straight-on-false-accusations/

by r0h1n • 13 years ago

33 44 13 years ago

blog.linkedin.com

It seems that this person doesn't understand the difference between getting permission and tricking the user. If the users also felt that they gave permission, there would not be a lawsuit.

droithomme• 13 years ago

I agree. For those who understand what is really going on with this issue, Linked In's response here is infuriating lies and doublespeak that assumes the reader is either uninformed or ignorant.

thrownaway2424• 13 years ago

I think that's a bit of a leap. There will always be some lawsuit to fend off. A company the size of LinkedIn is probably defending 20 cases at once. It's just the nature of the lawyer industry.

This case sorta-kinda reminds me of the class action where people are saying that when you mail someone at Gmail, Google "intercepts" the message. There's always going to be class actions like that one. Whatever a lawyer can dream up, he can litigate as a civil action.

chopin• 13 years ago

I'd still like to know whats technically going on. There are bold accusations in another thread (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6425444)for which I do not understand how they are accomplished technically. Both XSRF and simply OAuth seem possible. The latter can't go on unnoticed, imho.

msandford2• 13 years ago

What happens is that when you click on a "This person wants to connect with you..." link in an email LinkedIn's website connects you automatically. BUT they throw up a page that looks a HELL OF A LOT like a "you're not logged in yet page" that has a password form on it which SEEMINGLY prompts you to login to their site.

What it's actually doing is prompting you to give them your email password so that they can login and scrape contacts. I know this because I've nearly fallen for it myself in the last couple of months. Thankfully I have some internet savvy. The folks who are suing probably saw "please enter a password" and entered one and just happened to use the same password for LinkedIn as their email; LinkedIn thus "hacked" their emails.

I think LinkedIn should have to face some heat for this for deceiving people, though I don't believe what they're doing is technically hacking.

tonfa• 13 years ago

I don't believe what they're doing is technically hacking

Social engineering is often considered hacking.

lukeschlather• 13 years ago

Legally, there's no definition of hacking.

LinkedIn does seem to be guilty of violating the same statute most "hackers" are prosecuted under, making it a felony to access a computer without authorization.

Really, what they're doing is textbook password phishing.

dreen• 13 years ago

So upon reading this I went to my LinkedIn to find the settings he is talking about but I don't see them anywhere. Can anybody help me? Where can I disable this?

ZoF• 13 years ago

It's in the Terms and Conditions on signup. huehuehue.

In reality I have no idea where this opt-in occurs, nor how to opt-out; I'm (somewhat)surprised it isn't easily accessible.

hluska• 13 years ago

This makes me want to sign up for another LinkedIn account so that I can try this out! You're possibly an expert growth hacker...;)

Fourplealis• 13 years ago

Well, they didnt explained what have they done to make people angry. Those invites didnt send themselves.

lutusp4• 13 years ago

Let me guess -- LinkedIn automatically and surreptitiously "opts you in" to sharing your email contact list and there's either no meaningful way to opt out, or the option is buried by people as skilled as those who buried Jimmy Hoffa, or it doesn't exist at all.

So they now can speak the half-truth that those malcontents who are suing them didn't find the opt-out option, therefore it was all right to exploit their contact lists.

One more thing. Given that a lawsuit is pending, it's extremely unwise to reveal one's defense in advance of the proceedings -- that can only help the other side. When a lawyer tells you to say nothing publicly about an upcoming legal action, you really should listen to him. This tells me that LinkedIn either doesn't have competent counsel, or they're in the habit of ignoring wise advice.

abat• 13 years ago

They're probably more worried about bad press than the payout for the case. The class action lawyers only care about their own fees. They'll probably get a settlement that involves giving some money to some privacy charity rewarding the lawyers and not actually doing anything to directly benefit the members of the class action.

mathattack2• 13 years ago

Exactly. Losing their spot as the business social network would kill them.

benologist• 13 years ago

I think the ramifications are bigger than that - heaps of services want unrestricted, virtually unaccountable access to our contacts and address books and quite liberally help themselves to it - like Path earlier this year found to be uploading everyone's address books to their servers.

A best case scenario for us will greatly limit the way and extent companies access our data.

lutusp4• 13 years ago

They're probably more worried about bad press than the payout for the case.

That makes sense. But they have to weigh the pros of arguing the case in public, versus the cost of exposing their reasoning, such as it is.

Also, by saying they had the right to mine people's address books, but without explaining how they think they acquired the right, they risk a pretty big public backlash.

lifeisstillgood2• 13 years ago

it's not a legal definition, but it is a marketplace definition:

  if I give you permission that I did not realise
  or understand, it's not really permission.

  if I give you permission to do something, and the
  way you do it is so out of whack with my expectations
  it's not really permission.

The lawsuit is about one or both of these happening. neither has any realistic legal hope without legislation, but that's not the point. LinkedIn, one of the great professional business hopes for a real revolution in how we find and work with others, is a spammy marketeer. And worse, they don't realise it.

nb - you don't have to be a spammy marketeer all the time for it to be an accurate description. just as you don't have to beat your wife every night to be accurately described as a wife beater. you might think you are being a good husband tonight - she is just waiting for the next round

a long winded way to say you have lost my trust LinkedIn. One day a viable alternative will appear and you will discover the meaning of freefall. in the meantime have my monthly subscription darn it

lutusp4• 13 years ago

it's not a legal definition, but it is a marketplace definition:
if I give you permission that I did not realise or understand, it's not really permission.

Yes, that's true, but it's also true in a legal sense. At least in the U.S., if you enter into a contract that includes conditions that no reasonable person would agree to, those are called "unconscionable" conditions, they have no force, and therefore the contract has no force.

http://www.legalmatch.com/law-library/article/what-is-an-unc...

Quote: "What is an Unconscionable Contract? An unconscionable contract is one that is so one-sided that it is unfair to one party and therefore unenforceable under law. It is a type of contract that leaves one party with no real, meaningful choice, usually due to major differences in bargaining power between the parties."

quanticle• 13 years ago

I'm not a lawyer, but I thought most contracts had clauses that said that if one part of this contract is found to be invalid, the rest of the contract still holds. In other words, each part of the contract has to be struck down individually for the whole contract to be struck down.

lawnchair_larry2• 13 years ago

I can see why one would begrudgingly keep their Linked In account, but you actually pay a subscription? What value does that provide you?

lifeisstillgood2• 13 years ago

you get to "message" people directly whom you do not know or have a link to. makes life easier to get n contact with people whom are fun and interesting to get in contact with. one day I will get around to doing a "a quick coffee with fun and interesting people" podcast

I'm going to dive into LinkedIn OAuth this week, so I might get a better insight soon.

3327• 13 years ago

I have personally felt the same anger against linkedin. Enough to sign my name under a class action. They deserve this and I think its justified.

bsullivan01• 13 years ago

You "get" permission by tricking users. I am very web-savvy and almost fell for your tricks, so I hope you have to pay at least a $billion as a message.

(That and clicking on ads on Google and other SE, they make it extremely hard to distinguish between ads and content. If we had an FTC that stuff would end after threats of lawsuits and billion dollar fines.)

busterarm2• 13 years ago

Notice how they don't say they aren't logging into people's email accounts at all?

Why should they be logging into anyone's email account, at all, ever?

This might as well be an admission of guilt.

cschmidt• 13 years ago

They do log into people's email accounts, to see the address book. They are saying they have permission, and I'm sure they do in a strict, legal sense, if you read all their TOS.

The issue is that they are trying to get as many people to agree as possible, so they are being sneaky about it. People don't know what they're going to do, even though they clicked on a box. Legally correct, yet scummy.

busterarm2• 13 years ago

Absolutely. It's a totally scummy company. I don't and have never had a LinkedIn account.

I'm just trying to argue that why should a company even be trying to get access to your email account? They shouldn't be trying to defend the practice.

What does this mean for all of the email providers out there who in their own TOS say that they're providing a service and that you can't give any other party permission to access your account? Can LinkedIn be absolved of blame fot accessing something you were never allowed to give them access to to begin with?

zeckalpha2• 13 years ago

So many sites/apps do this sort of thing as "growth hacking". If this goes through, it will set a precedent allowing for many many other suits. I think where the line will be drawn is how well were users informed of what they were consenting to. This will generally improve the quality of ToS, eventually. Hopefully. It also could potentially kill off the business growth model that a lot of social sites use to build themselves off others, e.g. Zynga on Facebook. This is a bigger deal than people are making it.

rvivek• 13 years ago

Not even sure how this is even setting the record straight. Just negating the assumptions doesn't help anyone. I'm not saying Linkedin is doing anything wrong but clearly the blog post could have had a deeper analysis.

rhizome• 13 years ago

Note that he does not define who is a member in stating the LinkedIn motto as "Members First." Something tells me it's not "everyone who has created an account."

pbreit• 13 years ago

This message rings sort of hollow. First, including "False Accusations" in the title seems overly defensive. That immediately trips my Spidey senses. Next, while reading what LinkedIn apparently does NOT do, all I can think is, well, "what does LinkedIn DO?"

JanezStupar• 13 years ago

They do everything he did not claim.

He never said that they do not show you a form that tricks you into thinking that you are logging into LinkedIn but in reality you are handing over your email password.

molecule• 13 years ago

"Who wrote this? Who is Blake Lawit?"

From the inside of a business, it might seem like a proper business behavior to have the Senior Director, Litigation at LinkedIn publicly address a class-action lawsuit, but the source doesn't do much to assuage LinkedIn-users' concerns, and the source's defensive role in the situation could be interpreted as an indication impropriety.

A response from the CEO, CTO or someone in charge of user experience or user relations would have been much better if LinkedIn wanted to "(set) the record straight" w/ their users.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/blakelawit

mathattack2• 13 years ago

Agree. The lawyer should draft it, and the chairman or CEO should post it.

coldcode• 13 years ago

What kind of lawyer comments on pending litigation in a public forum? A stupid one.

avty• 13 years ago

Where there is smoke, there is fire.

nullc• 13 years ago

Considering all the apologies I get from people after linked in spams the everlasting crap out of me and mailing lists I'm on, I'm having a hard time believing that there isn't _something_ wrong going on there and that Linkedin doesn't know about it.

I'm not a fan of social networks— but Likedin seems like an actually reasonable idea... However, I've never made an account there because before I ever got to it the floods of invites (many clearly not intended) provided ample evidence to me that this wasn't something that I wanted anything to do with.

jmmcd• 13 years ago

We never deceive you by “pretending to be you” in order to access your email account.

I literally don't know what "pretending to be you" means.

gergles• 13 years ago

It's a literal quote from the (incredibly poorly written) suit against LinkedIn.

throwawaykf02• 13 years ago

Some potentially relevant screenshots from the other thread:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6427599

Setting the Record Straight on False Accusations

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