LinkedIn Faces Class-Action Lawsuits Over Browser Extension Scanning
The lawsuits test whether LinkedIn's extension scanning, which it says is for abuse detection, violates privacy laws when the data could reveal sensitive personal information.
Reporting from 1 sources: GIGAZINE.
Two class-action lawsuits filed in California accuse LinkedIn of secretly scanning users' browser extensions to collect data without consent. The suits follow a research project called BrowserGate by Fairlinked eV, which found LinkedIn's JavaScript code detected thousands of installed extensions. LinkedIn argues the scanning is disclosed in its privacy policy and done to block scraping tools.
The lawsuits were triggered by BrowserGate, a research project from Fairlinked eV that analyzed 6,222 browser extensions. The group claims LinkedIn's JavaScript code sent requests to check for internal files of specific extensions, letting the platform infer religion, politics, or health status from extension data. LinkedIn counters that the scanning is disclosed in its privacy policy and targets extensions used for web scraping. It also questions Fairlinked eV's motives, noting a board member previously sued LinkedIn over account restrictions and lost.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.
Sources
- GIGAZINE LinkedInがブラウザ拡張機能のスキャンをめぐり集団訴訟に直面