LinkedIn faces lawsuit over alleged address book misuse

LinkedIn is facing a U.S.-based lawsuit that claims the business networking company accessed users’ email address books and used them to recruit new customers, reports Bloomberg.

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When signing up, users agree to let LinkedIn send an email to their contacts asking them to join the site, Bloomberg explains. But in a ruling on whether the lawsuit should proceed, a California judge says the company went too far by sending follow-up emails to contacts who hadn’t joined.

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That practice could hurt the reputation of users, whose contacts could be frustrated by repeat solicitations that seem to be coming from their acquaintances.

The users behind the lawsuit want LinkedIn to return any revenue it made from the practice.

Read more here.

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The staff of Advisor.ca have been covering news for financial advisors since 1998.