LinkedIn scanning users’ browser extensions sparks controversy and two lawsuits

LinkedIn is currently embroiled in controversy following the initiation of two lawsuits concerning its practice of scanning users' web browsers to identify installed extensions. On Monday, two separate class action lawsuits were filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California by different law firms, each representing a distinct plaintiff. Both suits aim to include all LinkedIn users in the United States as part of their proposed class. The complaints are significantly informed by a recent report known as 'BrowserGate,' released by a German organization named Fairlinked, which advocates for commercial LinkedIn users. It's worth noting that Fairlinked appears to be associated with Teamfluence, an Estonian software firm that previously sued LinkedIn in Munich earlier this year. LinkedIn contends that Teamfluence had distributed a browser extension that improperly scraped user data, violating LinkedIn's user agreement, which led to the suspension of their LinkedIn accounts. As a subsidiary of Microsoft, LinkedIn does not dispute the fact that it scans browsers to check for extensions. However, there is ongoing contention regarding the sufficiency of LinkedIn's disclosures about this scanning practice and the subsequent use of the information collected. According to LinkedIn, the scanning is aimed at identifying extensions that infringe its terms by extracting user data without proper consent. The scanning process applies to Google Chrome and other Chromium-based browsers, such as Microsoft Edge. LinkedIn’s privacy policy states that the company utilizes cookies and similar technologies to gather data about users’ web browsers and add-ons. While LinkedIn acknowledges the collection of this data, which includes the user's network, device information, IP address, and operating system, the term 'add-ons' in the privacy policy is interpreted to refer to browser extensions. The complaints stemming from the BrowserGate report argue that LinkedIn's privacy disclosures lack the depth necessary to fully inform users about how their data is being monitored and used, raising significant privacy concerns.