You Should Read LinkedIn's New Privacy Policy Carefully

He who pays plays. That seems to be the underlying thought behind LinkedIn’s new privacy policy and user agreement, both of which were updated last month.

And it’s an important thought to remember before you use your employer-paid-for LinkedIn account to investigate and/or apply for jobs with your company’s competitors. (Note: The changes aren’t slated to go into effect until June 7.)

“You own your LinkedIn personal account, but we clarified that when others (such as your employer) purchase premium features for you to use, in addition to having the right to stop your access to those premium features, your employer also gets access to reports on your usage of those premium features,” LinkedIn said.

“If the services were purchased by another party for you to use (e.g. Recruiter seat bought by your employer), the party paying for such service has the right to control access to and get reports on your use of such paid service.”
Later on, the privacy policy appears to exclude job hunting from the data shared with an employer. “We understand that certain activities such as job hunting and personal messages are sensitive and so we do not share those with your employer unless you choose to share it with them through our Services (for example, by applying for a new position in the same company or mention your job hunting in a message to a co-worker through our Services).”

That means that users need to be extra careful before clicking on the standard agreements, to make sure that they’re not reflexively agreeing to share job-hunting details with their current paycheck-generator.

Another thing to consider, which wasn’t addressed in LinkedIn’s new documents, is whether you are sharing information that might violate your employer’s default confidentiality agreement.

When you sign a confidentiality agreement, there is rarely an exception for LinkedIn bragging. For that matter, there’s also not an exception for such detailed bragging in a job interview, but at least most job interviews aren’t transcribed and then posted for search engine spiders. Just a thought.

Back to the LinkedIn changes. Most of the changes were standard fare, but a few were worth noting. This passage from the user agreement summary, for example, might be awarded Best Hypocritical Oath: “We added that our restriction against creating a false identity on our Services is not waived just because LinkedIn may rarely allow a clearly fictional profiles in connection with a promotional campaign that it has approved.”

This next policy is understandable, but the phrasing still has that “take your ball and go home” quality: “If you object to any changes, you may close your account.” How nice of LinkedIn to give its customers permission to leave.

But if you do choose to leave, do you think your data will be wiped? Think again. “We retain your personal data even after you have closed your account if reasonably necessary to comply with our legal obligations (including law enforcement requests), meet regulatory requirements, resolve disputes, maintain security, prevent fraud and abuse, enforce our User Agreement, or fulfill your request to unsubscribe from further messages from us.”

Given the catch-all “enforce our user agreement,” it’s probably not safe to assume that anything will ever be deleted. Just adhere to the primary social media law and you’re fine: If it’s embarrassing in any way, assume it’s permanent.

Then there is the reminder of all of the ways LinkedIn will track you forever more.

“If you opt to import your address book, we receive your contacts (including contact information your service provider(s) or app automatically added to your address book when you communicated with addresses or numbers not already in your list). If you sync your email or calendars with our Services, we will collect your email header and calendar meeting information (e.g. times, places, attendees and contacts). We receive personal data about you when you use the services of our customers and partners, such as prospective employers and applicant tracking systems providing us job application data,” the new privacy policy said.

“We log usage data when you visit or otherwise use our Services, including our sites, app and platform technology (e.g., our off-site plugins), such as when you view or click on content (e.g., learning video) or ads (on or off our sites and apps), perform a search, install one of our mobile apps, share articles or apply for jobs. We use log-ins, cookies, device information and internet protocol (“IP”) addresses to identify you and log your use. We use cookies and similar technologies (e.g., web beacons, pixels, ad tags and device identifiers) to recognize you and/or your device(s) is on, off and across different Services and devices.

“When you visit or leave our Services (including our plugins or cookies or similar technology on the sites of others), we receive the URL of both the site you came from and the one you go to next. We also get information about your IP address, proxy server, operating system, web browser and add-ons, device identifier and features, and/or ISP or your mobile carrier. If you use our Services from a mobile device, that device will send us data about your location.”

To be fair, this is not even close to the worst privacy policy. But given how much data many IT people pour into LinkedIn, and, yes, LinkedIn messaging absolutely counts, it’s definitely worth a sober read.

Computerworld

You Might Alos Read: 

Russia To Block LinkedIn:

Social Media & The New Advertising Model (£):

EU / US Privacy Shield Affects Your Organisation:

 

 

« How A Cyber Attack Transformed Estonia
Police Take To The Air With Connectivity »

Infosecurity Europe
CyberSecurity Jobsite
Perimeter 81

Directory of Suppliers

MIRACL

MIRACL

MIRACL provides the world’s only single step Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) which can replace passwords on 100% of mobiles, desktops or even Smart TVs.

DigitalStakeout

DigitalStakeout

DigitalStakeout enables cyber security professionals to reduce cyber risk to their organization with proactive security solutions, providing immediate improvement in security posture and ROI.

Alvacomm

Alvacomm

Alvacomm offers holistic VIP cybersecurity services, providing comprehensive protection against cyber threats. Our solutions include risk assessment, threat detection, incident response.

Clayden Law

Clayden Law

Clayden Law advise global businesses that buy and sell technology products and services. We are experts in information technology, data privacy and cybersecurity law.

CSI Consulting Services

CSI Consulting Services

Get Advice From The Experts: * Training * Penetration Testing * Data Governance * GDPR Compliance. Connecting you to the best in the business.

AlgoSec

AlgoSec

The AlgoSec platform enables the world’s most complex organizations to gain visibility, reduce risk and process changes at zero-touch across the hybrid network.

Lastline

Lastline

Lastline is the leader in advanced malware protection.

AON

AON

Aon is a leading global provider of risk management (including cyber), insurance and reinsurance brokerage, human resources solutions and outsourcing services.

Brinqa

Brinqa

Brinqa is a leading provider of unified risk management and security analytics.to manage IT governance and technology risk.

ObserveIT

ObserveIT

ObserveIT helps companies identify & eliminate insider threats. Visually monitor & quickly investigate with our easy-deploy user activity monitoring solution.

IMS Networks

IMS Networks

IMS Networks specializes in the design and management of high criticality networks and telecoms services including network security and Managed Security Services.

Ukrainian Special Systems (USS)

Ukrainian Special Systems (USS)

Ukrainian Special Systems (USS) is a state-owned commercial enterprise providing confidential communication, trust services and services in the field of information protection.

International Association of Security Awareness Professionals (IASAP)

International Association of Security Awareness Professionals (IASAP)

IASAP provides a members-only virtual sharing platform where security awareness professionals engage in a lively, year-round exchange of information and ideas.

Information & Communications Technology Association of Jordan (int@j)

Information & Communications Technology Association of Jordan (int@j)

The Information & Communications Technology Association of Jordan is a membership based ICT and IT Enabled Services (ITES) industry advocacy, support and networking association.

Bedrock Systems

Bedrock Systems

BedRock Systems is on a mission to deliver a trusted computing base from edge to cloud, where safety and security isn’t just a perception, it’s a formally proven reality.

BlueHalo

BlueHalo

BlueHalo is purpose-built to provide industry capabilities in the domains of Space Superiority and Directed Energy, Missile Defense and C4ISR, and Cyber and Intelligence.

PhishFirewall

PhishFirewall

PhishFirewall is an advanced AI-driven CyberSecurity Awareness Education, Threat Emulation, and Human Security Analytics Platform.

ALSCO

ALSCO

ALSCO is dedicated to bringing first class IT services, technical support, and solutions to goverment, companies and organizations worldwide.

Siren

Siren

Siren provides the leading Investigative Intelligence Platform to some of the world’s leading Law Enforcement, National Security and Cyber threat investigators.

TrustMe

TrustMe

TrustMe’s integrated platform for business trust and resilience keeps organizations safe, secure, and trustworthy.

CyberForceHQ

CyberForceHQ

CyberForce helps cyber security professionals take real-world tests, get ranked and get paid better. It's that simple.