LinkedIn does a real number on this one. A few weeks ago, I got a "Do you know so-and-so" email from LinkedIn. Most of the people they suggested that I knew w

LinkedIn does a real number on this one. A few weeks ago, I got a "Do you know so-and-so" email from LinkedIn. Most of the people they suggested that I knew were people in my general social circle, and I presume that LinkedIn was just saying, "Person X is a connection of persons Y, Z, Alpha, and Beta, as are you. Perhaps you know person X?" But one was an ex-girlfriend. Which was weird, because we hadn't dated long and had, to my knowledge, no social overlap before, during, or since the time that we dated (we met using a dating site). So, I thought, "How does LinkedIn know that I know her?" And the conclusion I came to is that she had at some point recently uploaded her address book, and deliberately not chosen me as a contact, and then LinkedIn decided to try to nag me into initiating the contact that it knew we probably had. Which is, to my mind, pretty evil. She didn't choose to contact me. LinkedIn basically used information out of her address book without her permission or knowledge. In an admittedly very minor way, LinkedIn decided to cyber-stalk her on my "behalf," without either of our permission. (As it happens, we broke up amicably and no harm was done. But still, it was kind of gross.)