Does Linkedin Share User Data?

Linkedin has upset many of its 100 million users by opting them into a programme that reveals their personal details to advertisers without telling anyone about it.

Linkedin changed its privacy policy to allow it to display the names and pictures of users with ads. The system works by showing friends and colleagues who’ve followed a brand name, effectively making them an unwitting salesperson for that brand, since people are more likely to click such advertisements on the basis that it looks like someone they know is recommending them. In reality, the other person has no idea that their photo and name are being used to sell things.

It’s a clever approach to advertising, but an absolutely abyssmal approach to privacy, as Linkedin has decided to automatically opt-in all of its users without informing them of the change.

Users can opt out if they want, but the option is buried in the Settings page, a ploy similar to that used by Facebook to hide its privacy settings. The big problem here is that if users don’t know that their name and photo are being used in this way, then how can they opt out of it?

Linkedin could face legal trouble for this decision. Digital Trends reports it is likely that Linkedin broke Dutch privacy law, which requires user consent for employing user images with advertisements. It could also be brought up before the European Commission and the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

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Android Takes Top Spot

Android smartphones bested iPhone and BlackBerry devices for the first time in the U.S. in the latest Nielsen Co. survey conducted right before Verizon Wireless began selling Apple’s iPhone.

Android devices made by several phone makers were used by 29% of the U.S. market in the November through January reporting period. That compares to 27% each for both Apple iPhones and BlackBerry devices from Research in Motion, Nielsen said.

In Nielsen’s most recent report from December, the three top smartphone operating systems were in a statistical dead heat, a Nielsen spokeswoman said Friday.

Microsoft’s Windows Mobile and Windows Phone 7 smartphones garnered 10% of the U.S. market from November through January, while the WebOS from Hewlett-Packard gained 4% and Symbian from Nokia earned 2%.  Read More…