I don't think they were logging into email surreptitiously without you first doing a "Find My Friends" thing--that's clearly illegal. However, my guess is that

I don't think they were logging into email surreptitiously without you first doing a "Find My Friends" thing--that's clearly illegal. However, my guess is that they did at least the following (which is still creepy, IMHO): - Used phone contacts from the mobile app to use as suggestions. I noticed a serious uptake on weird connection suggestions after I first installed the app a few years back. Checking it out on a proxy, I noticed that it wasn't using SSL, either, so I uninstalled that puppy quick. I assume they've fixed this between then and now. - The "Find My Friends" from the Web and Mobile works both ways - so if someone you've emailed in the past chooses to do this, you start seeing them in your suggestions list. If I remember correctly, their original method for doing this was an actual login to email (which may be what happened to you; I don't know if there's any way to get them to clear out those suggestions once you've done it. I contacted Support about this awhile back & couldn't get an answer). What seemed weird to me about this is that all my wedding vendors popped up at the same time as suggestions...like they all got on LinkedIn at once or something. - If you look at someone's profile or they look at yours--even anonymously, you're linked somehow for suggestions. I've seen people I haven't talked to or emailed in 15 years and three email accounts ago recommended, as well as their spouses(!). Serious privacy issues here if you spend a few minutes thinking about the possibilities. ;) A quick tip--would bet many HN folks already know this, but I've talked to bunches of people who don't: Unless you explicitly set the "Select what others see when you view their profile," option (and keep checking it occasionally - just found mine was reset somehow), anyone whose profile you've viewed can see that you've viewed it. I love this feature (from the who's-viewed-me side, at least), but it's still creepy and something to be aware of if you're LinkedIn stalking someone... Also, it does look like they finally added a "Security" checkbox in Settings to always browse using https - would highly recommend setting that one if you haven't already.