8 ms·
LinkedIn forcing me to disclose my phone number to log in? No thanks
I've used Linkedin for over two decades. Now I'm being forced to disclose my mobile number in order to log in.
Given their track record of being hacked, I'm reluctant to share it with them.
Moreover, I'm already inundated with spam phone calls, and I'm not looking for another source. This is a thinly veiled attempt to harvest my data so they can hide it in a page with six dozen toggles which will periodically make my phone number visible to people who buy it if I am not logging into check what they've changed every day. Have you seen how difficult it is to opt-out of email notifications using their website?
If they were actually concerned about my security, they would give me other 2FA options that are more secure, like a Yubikey or authenticator application.
No thanks. I'm done with Linkedin.
- Fervicus 3y agoThis is also the reason I stopped using dating apps. Every single one wants my phone number.
- taylodl 3y agoAm going to provide the opposite take - you're receiving several spam calls per day now. Presumably you have a solution in place where you aren't being bothered by them. So LinkedIn wants to add more spams calls to the set you're already ignoring? Who cares?
- awnion 3y agoRemind me plz why do we need phone numbers?
- willmadden 3y agoUpdate: no one will likely see this, but I'm the OP and workaround turned out to be simple and not involve burner phones. I deleted my linkedin cookies, waited a few days, changed my IP address, and was able to log in without handing over my phone number. They lock this nasty screen in using cookies or possibly your IP address. I'm guessing it's to harass VPN users.
- sylware 3y agoCome on, give to msft (linkedin) your entire professional networks, they need this for their prospect... be nice to them...
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- shyn3 3y agoHave 2 numbers. One for the government and one for yourself. Anything in the stock market is government.
- tamimio 3y agoIf you don’t need LinkedIn, don’t use it, I can’t think of any other “social media” platform that’s so cringy and weird like LinkedIn, there’s something off putting about it that no matter how I promise myself to be active there, I stop after one day. If you need it however, just get a burner phone, that’s what I do, I have a second number for all these kind of stuff, my personal never shared in any online service.
- deelowe 3y agoIt gives me Cyberpunk vibes.
- EVa5I7bHFq9mnYK 3y agoI created a linkedin account once, didn't even post any resume, and it somehow found and connected me to coworkers from many years ago, whom I absolutely didn't want to know where I work and what I'm doing. Beyond creepy. I deleted account immediately and won't touch linkedin with a ten foot pole.
- wkat4242 3y agoIt's indeed sickening how seemingly sane people constantly repeat the company PR line like brainless little corporate drones. Or post stupid jokes or "investment opportunities". I immediately unfollow everyone on my feed when I see them do that. I have very few people still on it. LinkedIn brings out the worst in people but in a really weird corporate PR packaging. Or some people really believe in their own marketing. I can't decide what's worse. Ps I also hate all the sales people using LinkedIn to find my details and offer commercial services, usually totally irrelevant to my job. I block them and their companies immediately. But I wish I could report them to spamhaus or something. Microsoft 365 does nothing with the reports because most spammers are also their customers.
- chunk_waffle 3y agoLinkedIn is hot nuclear garbage. Most of the job listings are ghost jobs and the rest are ones I'd not want anyway.
- 3y ago
- dc3k 3y agoIt is infuriating how many websites require you to give out your phone number in order to sign up or log in these days.
- DaiPlusPlus 3y agoI would like to see a better alternative way to discourage both bot-accounts and, to a lesser extent, human-farmed accounts. Well, we do, and it’s Device Attestation, but that’s just as bad, if not worse, honestly - at least with a phone-number we can use our own hardware.
- drexlspivey 3y agoScanning your eyeballs?
- soraminazuki 3y agoFrom a user standpoint, I'd take privacy over not actually secure "security" practice any day.
- wyldfire 3y agoThere is no better unique identifier around. perfect for mapping this website's data to Every Advertisers Data Ever.
- justinsoong 3y agoAbsolutely agree, why are we using SMS as a de-facto 2FA method. So many good options these days like TOTP and passkeys
- lotsofpulp 3y agoBecause it is not just 2FA, it is human verification.
- LoganDark 3y agoI would prefer to give up my ID (with mailing address censored, of course) because at least then they cannot use it to contact me.
- lotsofpulp 3y agoSo would I. An identify/human verification API provided by USPS would be awesome.
- DaiPlusPlus 3y agoIt takes 3-5 business days for a letter to get from one desk to mine, that won't work when you want to sign-up for your next impulsive Reddit link click-through. There is id.me though (a non-governmental company, but effectively endorsed by the US federal gov), but because I highly value pseudonymity I don't want to use my on real, government-linked, identity for frivolous things - and I'm not aware of anyone like id.me nor any other identity-providers offering a "human-attestation-only" service that wouldn't share any actual PII like my real-name. It's a shame that web-of-trust schemes never took-off (and I can't see how they could, honestly), I gather some schemes had a mode where a group of known people (in good standing) could collectively vouch for an anonymous person/node, but that system could be easily gamed too. Is this an intractible problem?
- lotsofpulp 3y agoThe identify / human verification API can be instantaneous, like pretty much all others (after you have verified your identity to the USPS and received a mechanism to verify yourself). And it also does not have to reveal identity, just whether or not you exist in USPS’s database as a real person.
- TZubiri 3y agoIt's a standard measure to increase the cost of fake identities to decrease spam and Sybil attacks. If you exclusively belong to communities that don't have such measures, you will be dominated by third parties who create mass accounts instead of the platform. Choose your poison I guess.
- blibble 3y agoif the guy has had the account for 20 years without being banned then he's probably not a bot its a data harvesting exercise
- avarun 3y agoYou would think that, but you’d be wrong. Old inactive accounts get purchased and sold to bot networks all the time.
- c420 3y agoAged accounts have very high value to hackers as well: https://www.vox.com/technology/2023/9/28/23892964/facebook-account-hacked-theft-stolen-online-scams-meta https://www.vox.com/technology/2023/9/28/23892964/facebook-a...
- michaelteter 3y agoNot to defend Linkedin, but it is always possible that new measures (filters) are devised by people who don't consider all the possible parameters. In other words, some less-thinking Linkedin employee decides to do a thing without adequate consideration of all the information available (such as length of time of membership). Maybe Linkedin let some moron apply rules, or Linkedin is grabbing data for marketing/sales purposes, or there's an explanation we haven't realized yet.
- throwawaysleep 3y agoAged Reddit accounts have a decent market. LinkedIn could easily be the same.
- Topgamer7 3y agoLinked in used to get me cold calls by using my phone verification input. So they can fuck right off.
- wkat4242 3y agoI haven't been asked for this bullshit but I probably won't either. Or take a burner or something.
- Brajeshwar 3y agoI see a whole lot of LinkedIn profiles who have identified/verified themselves with a "Government ID." Imagine that.
- asah 3y agomeh just get a google voice number. need one for all sorts of services.
- qwerty_clicks 3y agoGV numbers commonly don’t work. Somehow they are identified as a sort of virtual (VIOP) number.
- asah 3y agowhile true in some cases, I've been pleasantly surprised at how often GV/etc are accepted. another alternative (also minutes) is to use eSim, e.g. Google Fi - minutes to setup and many late model phones support multiple esims.
- demondemidi 3y agoI have a friend who is a lawyer and has access to LexisNexis. When I found out what is in there for sale (and it's like a 30 year old service!), I kinda wanted to give up. It all feels like "Privacy Theater". Why would I worry about linked in when people can buy my most private info from so many places that I didn't even know existed? Are we just kidding ourselves? (I live in the USA.)
- willk 3y agoIt does seem like they have a lot. I’m on mobile, so I just glanced at the site. https://supportcenter.lexisnexis.com/app/answers/answer_view/a_id/1074509/~/types-of-personally-identifiable-information-available-on-lexisnexis https://supportcenter.lexisnexis.com/app/answers/answer_view...
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
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- landemva 3y agoMy approach has been, gradually, to put everything into LLCs and trusts. Mailing address is one of the storefront vendors. Two real phone numbers and a couple VOIP numbers. I mostly use Signal for people I want to speak with. I don't yet have a good screen of the address on my driver license, as I get some perks where I live and want to keep that for now. I am using passport more domestically for ID because it does not have an address. Basically, don't put any property or services in your name, and all mail uses the storefront address. I suppose rich folks have wealth management person at bank who recommends an attorney for these schemes. It wouldn't scale at reasonable price point to make a service for this, though I have considered it. Most people "don't have anything to hide" so they will not see value in such a service. If people won't opt out of TSA's voluntary full body scans, they won't be interested in privacy. You can't screen everything overnight without help, so start small like put a car in a trust or LLC with address somewhere else. The downside, or upside?, is that on paper you will have nothing. Definite upside is keeping controlling paperwork straight and replicated to people I trust.
- tarek_computer 3y agoI hear you. I just got officially banned permanently yesterday. I do not use their app except the web. Last month I was kicked off because they claimed that I am using an automation tool, which I don’t. The second time they kicked me out, they asked me to confirm that I do not use an automation all. I said I don’t. Yesterday, I got kicked out and was told to upload a government id such as a driving license. Shortly after, I got a message “ We've deemed the activity in your account is in violation of the LinkedIn User Agreement and Professional Community Policies. Your appeal has been denied and your account has been restricted permanently. Please see our User Agreement and Professional Community Policies for more information.” I am not able to talk or ask anyone at LinkedIn why I have been banned. Is it because I don’t use their app? I don’t know.
- charcircuit 3y agoAre you using Chrome? Do you have any extensions?
- tarek_computer 3y agoNothing. I only use safari to access LinkedIn via iOS and Mac OS.
- universenz 3y agoRight? Dude, please provide some additional context around your web browser stack because something you’re using is triggering their system. That or you’re click house neighbours are using your wifi.
- tarek_computer 3y agoI have private relay enabled via iOS iCloud. I have no extensions installed. Preload top hit is enabled on safari by default. (Not sure if this is could be a factor). I only use safari across my devices. 2FA is enabled for LinkedIn and save password. That is it. I access LinkedIn frequently throughout the day.
- RhodesianHunter 3y agoI have come to believe (after grilling spam callers on how they got my work Teams number) that Microsoft is selling corporate Microsoft Teams phone numbers via LinkedIn.
- RecycledEle 3y agoDemanding a phone number will not help stop the fraud. HR execs advertising for nonexistent positions have drawers full of burner phones. I wish fraudulent job advertisements were prosecuted as felonies. The value is typically in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, but there are no prosecutions.
- wyclif 3y agoWhat is the motivation for HR execs to flood the site with nonexistent positions, and does LinkedIn do anything to stop abuse like that?
- ajcp 3y agoYeah, I'm at a loss for the value of that exercise. That being said I'm sure there's some super domain specific and esoteric reasoning.
- milesvp 3y agoCommon reasons for posting bogus listings include posting very specific requirements in order to “look for cadidates” other than a very specific person, or to claim there are no local candidates in order to hire cheaper H1-B visas. Another common reason for job postings is to make it look like you’re hiring to signal to people in the organization with certain KPI. Also, some people in the hiring process like to attempt to keep pipelines full of “good” candidates for when they might hire in the future. Cost used to be super high to advertise jobs, so you didn’t bother when you had no openings. Now, ads are relatively cheap, so more more goofy behavior to waste people’s time.
- chamoda 3y agoI think there’s a pattern to increase follower count when people apply for jobs. There’s a check box automatically checked asking to follow, that means when you apply most likely you will follow the company.
- akomtu 3y agoLooks like big tech, chasing those +25% YoY, is progressing from data theft to data extortion: "hey, you've got a nice decade old profile with us, with lots of valuable connections, it would be sad to have it gone! you have 24 hours to give us more data, otherwise we can't guarantee safety of your profile. have a wonderful day!"
- ChrisArchitect 3y agoTell HN:
- AquaPhobi 3y agothis is interesting to me, I've not had them ask for my phone number yet... unless I already gave it to them and I don't recall...
- freitzkriesler2 3y agoThe best solution I have to fixing this is somewhat complicated but worth it. First get a prepaid phone number and the card for it using some backup phone you have. Then port that number to Google voice or some voip text service. For some reason, when you sign up with google voice or a voip service using their number allocation tool, services know that it's a voip number. But when you port it, they never seem to find out. I think because the profile tag for the number on the exchange side doesn't change. Someone who knows how phone infrastructure works could probably explain how the backend works. This is how I get around 2fa using Google voice if the service doesn't want me using a voip line.
- willmadden 3y agoI might try this. There's no way I'm giving linkedin my phone number.
- sn_master 3y agoJust use a Google voice number?
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- kyriakos 3y agoI've been receiving sales calls lately from companies offering services in my industry. Very annoying ones as well, the kind where they will call multiple times even if I tell them I am not interested. The only source I can think of that they got my number from is LinkedIn. This prompted me to check if I have it publicly available but turns out I didn't. Being unable to confirm the source from the sales people themselves unfortunately means I cannot take any action to protect my data privacy. Therefore I would advice against giving your personal phone number to LinkedIn.
- RhodesianHunter 3y agoThey're selling your Microsoft Teams number (which they only could have acquired from Microsoft), so I have no doubt.
- pragnesh 3y agosimilarly, Are you hiring prompt is quite annoying.
- antifa 3y agoMe asking HN: Would it make sense to file a complaint to any specific organization like the FCC/FTC/BBB?
- TheChaplain 3y agoI have an old phone with a pre-paid SIM for such ridiculous moves, it's in the drawer and only turned on when required.
- Simulacra 3y agoA lot of apps require phone numbers, especially the ones that like to vacuum up your personal data such as dating apps.