LinkedIn beats "BrowserGate" lawsuits over scanning users' Chrome extensions
Summary
A judge dismissed two lawsuits against LinkedIn about scanning users’ browser extensions because the users did not show they were actually harmed. The lawsuits accused LinkedIn of invading privacy by detecting browser add-ons, but the court said users must prove real damage from this to sue. LinkedIn said scanning helps stop automated data scraping by tools like Teamfluence.Key Facts
- Two users sued LinkedIn over its scanning of browser extensions used with the LinkedIn site.
- The US District Court for Northern California dismissed the lawsuits for lack of proven harm.
- Plaintiffs were allowed to try rewriting their complaints but the judge was doubtful they could win.
- LinkedIn states its privacy policy informs users it collects some browser data and add-on info.
- The lawsuits followed a report called “BrowserGate” alleging LinkedIn illegally searched users’ computers.
- The BrowserGate group is linked to Teamfluence, a company banned by LinkedIn for unauthorized data scraping.
- A German court ruled that Teamfluence violated LinkedIn’s user agreement, justifying LinkedIn’s actions.
- LinkedIn claims it scans to identify and block scraping activities like those by Teamfluence’s software.
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