LinkedIn loses legal fight over profiles
When you create a public profile on a social network such as LinkedIn, it isn’t just your friends and contacts who can see that data. For better or for worse, other companies can legally download that information and use it for themselves.
That’s according to a federal judge who ruled Monday against LinkedIn, the professional networking site, in a case that has big implications for corporate power and consumer privacy.
LinkedIn had claimed that another company, hiQ Labs, was illegally downloading information about LinkedIn users to help drive its business. The issue was a concern for LinkedIn, which is owned by Microsoft, in part because many tech companies depend on customer data to compete and even outmaneuver their rivals. As a result, being able to control that information and determine who else can see it is of paramount importance to firms like these.
“Microsoft is further transforming LinkedIn into a data-driven marketing powerhouse that harvests all its data to drive ad revenues,” said Jeffrey Chester, president of the Center for Digital Democracy.
Where LinkedIn and hiQ clashed was over hiQ’s product, which almost exclusively depends on LinkedIn’s data, according to Judge Edward Chen. HiQ essentially helps employers predict, using the data, which of their employees are likely to leave for other jobs.
This HR tool is key to industries whose success depends on recruiting and retaining the best talent.
HiQ has raised more than $12 million since its founding in 2012. LinkedIn itself is making moves to develop a similar capability, Chen said, meaning that LinkedIn’s attempt to block hiQ from accessing its data could be interpreted as a self-interested move to kneecap a competitor.
To allow hiQ access to LinkedIn’s data would be a gross violation of LinkedIn users’ privacy, LinkedIn argued. But Chen didn’t buy it, saying that LinkedIn already chooses to provide data to third parties of its own accord.
What’s more, he added, people who make their profiles public on LinkedIn probably want their information seen by others, which undermines LinkedIn’s claim to be protecting user privacy.