Ruling prohibits LinkedIn from ignoring browser's 'Do Not Track' setting



In a lawsuit filed by a German consumer group, the court ruled that LinkedIn, a business-specific SNS owned by Microsoft, ignored users' data tracking, which was a violation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The court ruled that it is prohibited to ignore such requests. LinkedIn plans to appeal.

Gericht untersagt Datenschutzverstöße von LinkedIn | Verbraucherzentrale Bundesverband

https://www.vzbv.de/urteile/gericht-untersagt-datenschutzverstoesse-von-linkedin

Germany court bans LinkedIn from ignoring browser “do-not-track” setting | Cybernews
https://cybernews.com/tech/germany-court-bans-linkedin-from-ignoring-browser-do-not-track/

Do-Not-Track ruling could affect LinkedIn privacy awareness
https://techhq.com/2023/10/is-linkedin-privacy-helped-or-hindered-by-do-not-track-or-private-browsing-mode/

The main focus of this lawsuit was the handling of ` `Do Not Track (DNT),'' a browser setting that requests that user data such as IP addresses not be used for tracking.

Since this setting is just a request, it is almost a dead giveaway, and Google says on the Chrome help page , ``Many websites collect and use your browsing data even if you send this request...'' This is the current situation.''



On the other hand, in California, where LinkedIn is headquartered, the 2013 amendment to the Online Privacy Protection Act requires companies to explain in advance how they will handle users' refusal to be tracked. Under this law, LinkedIn announces on

its help page that it ignores Do Not Track (DNT) by stating, 'Because the Do Not Track (DNT) standard is not commonly used, LinkedIn does not use DNT signals.' was doing.

In response, the Federation of Consumer Organizations (VZBV), a German consumer organization, said, ``LinkedIn's statement that it will ignore Do Not Track is in violation of the GDPR, which prohibits the processing of personal data without consent.'' He claimed that he was suing LinkedIn.

In its latest ruling, the Berlin District Court stated that ``LinkedIn's announcement is misleading'' and that ``Do Not Track is legally invalid and there is no need to heed such signals.'' I rejected LinkedIn's claims.

“Enabling Do Not Track sends a clear message, and website operators must respect this signal,” said Rosemary Rodden, legal expert at VZBV. I commented.

The ruling means LinkedIn will no longer be able to collect data from users in the EU who have the Do Not Track setting turned on in their browsers.



A LinkedIn spokesperson told the news media Cybernews, ``We disagree with the court's ruling related to older versions of our platform and intend to appeal.''

In other cases, a German court has prohibited LinkedIn from making profiles public by default. According to VZBV, the ``view profile'' feature was enabled on LinkedIn upon initial registration, which allowed LinkedIn users' profiles to be made public outside the service, including search engines, without their consent. “Once a user profile is created, it should not be automatically made available to the public,” Rodden said.

Separately from this case, in 2022, a ruling was issued prohibiting LinkedIn from sending email invitations to non-users who have not consented to the use of their email address, and another ruling prohibited LinkedIn's terms of service. Clauses such as ``Only the English version of the contract is legally binding'' and ``legal disputes may only be raised in Dublin, Ireland'' were also invalidated.

in Web Service, Posted by log1l_ks