LinkedIn hit with lawsuits over ‘hidden’ browser tracking – NewsBytes

LinkedIn is facing two class action lawsuits What’s the story LinkedIn is embroiled in a legal battle over its practice of scanning users’ browsers to identify their extensions. Two class action lawsuits were filed earlier this week in the US District Court for the Northern District of California. The complaints were filed by different law firms representing different plaintiffs, with each seeking to represent a proposed class of all US-based LinkedIn users. BrowserGate report forms basis of lawsuits The lawsuits heavily rely on a recent BrowserGate report by Fairlinked, a German trade association and advocacy group for commercial LinkedIn users. The complaints claim that LinkedIn’s practice of scanning browsers without adequate disclosure violates user privacy expectations. One lawsuit’s named plaintiff, Nicholas Farrell, argued that “Plaintiff and Class members had an objectively reasonable expectation of privacy because, unlike other forms of tracking, Defendant does not disclose in its Privacy Policy or elsewhere that it tracks users’ browser extensions.” LinkedIn has not denied scanning browsers LinkedIn, a Microsoft subsidiary, has not denied scanning browsers for extensions. However, it disputes whether it adequately discloses this practice and how it uses the information collected. The company says it scans for extensions that violate its
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