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Another "dark pattern" I recently noticed: One page (member homepage perhaps) displays a list with the standard "add these people to your network" and in an ab

Another "dark pattern" I recently noticed: One page (member homepage perhaps) displays a list with the standard "add these people to your network" and in an absent-minded moment I clicked a few. Too late, I realised it was a mixed list of LinkedIn members and non-members extracted from my address book. Existing members, fine, they get an invite to connect. But non-members no doubt receive a message "from austinjp". I texted one friend a pre-emptive apology and logged out. I very rarely bother with LinkedIn, and this is another reason they leave me cold.

dspillett 11y ago
> extracted from my address book This is why nothing like linked-in gets anywhere near my address book, and therefore nowhere near my portable devices because the only way to install the phone app is to agree to that permission and the site itself is terrible on mobile. If you let an app install that asks for permission to read your address book assume it will one day it will spam everyone in it and if someone in your address book also uses the app assume that the linking information will be used for profiling purposes (which means more advertising by one of many means). And any who gives a web app their email address & password to access their mail account to look for contacts (seriously, I know people who have done this and damn well should know better) they need a good smack up the back of the head with the security clue stick.
- austinjp 11y ago
  Indeed. I don't recall uploading data to LinkedIn, but it's possible I gave it permission to access my email at some point. If I did so, it would have been years ago. Problematically, that data has now been stored on LI servers, so I can't revoke access.
  - dspillett 11y ago
    It may not be directly from your address book: if you know enough people who have linked-in accounts, are linked to you, and have fallen for one of the access routes, then a lot can no doubt be inferred about you from them.
- redwood 11y ago
  I agree with you and this is a reminder of how critical it is to use a different password for these accounts and for your email address. Because LinkedIn put what is essentially a fishing screen in front of you where they ask you for your email address and password. Now you can very easily have used your email address to log in to LinkedIn and therefore you can easily assume this is linked in asking you to relogin. What you don't realize is you're giving up your email address and email password if they have a good match what you think you're typing in to login to LinkedIn
  - acjohnson55 11y ago
    I fell for this years ago. It's super creepy. I only recently figured out where to go to delete that data, but I still get creepy suggestions.
    - JBReefer 11y ago
      Where do you go? I've hunted around a lot - it's really uncomfortable that they tell you "nothing is connected" and then recommend people you've dated...
rpgmaker 11y ago
Why do people keep using linkedin? They are the biggest spammers around and have no shame. All email providers should filter their emails as spam automatically. I periodically receive linkedin invitations from people that wrote to my dev email account looking for technical support, which just goes to show that they just don't go after your 'friends' but just about anyone you have ever contacted via email.
chinathrow 11y ago
"and non-members extracted from my address book" There, we have a winner!
jrowley 11y ago
Yeah linkedin suggested I add my deceased grandfather using this method the other day. Obnoxious feature.
austinjp 11y ago
A couple of people have pointed out my phrase "non-members extracted from my address book"... Perhaps this should more accurately have been "possibly" extracted from my address book. I'm a friend of Tom, Jerry, and Spike. We all have each others' email addresses in our address books. We're all LinkedIn members apart from Spike. Tom and Jerry both upload their address books to LinkedIn, but I don't. LinkedIn doesn't require a wizard to work out that austinjp may know non-member Spike. They simply have to display Spike in a mixed-list of members and non-members and wait for me to click him. They even differentiate non-members from members, but too subtly, and all it takes is one mistaken click.

dspillett 11y ago

> extracted from my address book This is why nothing like linked-in gets anywhere near my address book, and therefore nowhere near my portable devices because the only way to install the phone app is to agree to that permission and the site itself is terrible on mobile. If you let an app install that asks for permission to read your address book assume it will one day it will spam everyone in it and if someone in your address book also uses the app assume that the linking information will be used for profiling purposes (which means more advertising by one of many means). And any who gives a web app their email address & password to access their mail account to look for contacts (seriously, I know people who have done this and damn well should know better) they need a good smack up the back of the head with the security clue stick.

austinjp 11y ago
Indeed. I don't recall uploading data to LinkedIn, but it's possible I gave it permission to access my email at some point. If I did so, it would have been years ago. Problematically, that data has now been stored on LI servers, so I can't revoke access.
- dspillett 11y ago
  It may not be directly from your address book: if you know enough people who have linked-in accounts, are linked to you, and have fallen for one of the access routes, then a lot can no doubt be inferred about you from them.
redwood 11y ago
I agree with you and this is a reminder of how critical it is to use a different password for these accounts and for your email address. Because LinkedIn put what is essentially a fishing screen in front of you where they ask you for your email address and password. Now you can very easily have used your email address to log in to LinkedIn and therefore you can easily assume this is linked in asking you to relogin. What you don't realize is you're giving up your email address and email password if they have a good match what you think you're typing in to login to LinkedIn
- acjohnson55 11y ago
  I fell for this years ago. It's super creepy. I only recently figured out where to go to delete that data, but I still get creepy suggestions.
  - JBReefer 11y ago
    Where do you go? I've hunted around a lot - it's really uncomfortable that they tell you "nothing is connected" and then recommend people you've dated...

rpgmaker 11y ago

Why do people keep using linkedin? They are the biggest spammers around and have no shame. All email providers should filter their emails as spam automatically. I periodically receive linkedin invitations from people that wrote to my dev email account looking for technical support, which just goes to show that they just don't go after your 'friends' but just about anyone you have ever contacted via email.

chinathrow 11y ago

"and non-members extracted from my address book" There, we have a winner!

jrowley 11y ago

Yeah linkedin suggested I add my deceased grandfather using this method the other day. Obnoxious feature.

austinjp 11y ago

A couple of people have pointed out my phrase "non-members extracted from my address book"... Perhaps this should more accurately have been "possibly" extracted from my address book. I'm a friend of Tom, Jerry, and Spike. We all have each others' email addresses in our address books. We're all LinkedIn members apart from Spike. Tom and Jerry both upload their address books to LinkedIn, but I don't. LinkedIn doesn't require a wizard to work out that austinjp may know non-member Spike. They simply have to display Spike in a mixed-list of members and non-members and wait for me to click him. They even differentiate non-members from members, but too subtly, and all it takes is one mistaken click.