14 DAY TRIAL // Last week, we learned that four individuals filed a class-action lawsuit against LinkedIn, accusing the professional social network of hacking into customer email accounts, stealing their contacts, and spamming them. The company is denying the accusations.
In a blog post, Blake Lawit, senior director of litigation at LinkedIn, said that the accusations were “not true.”
Lawit noted that the company didn’t hack member email accounts, it didn’t deceive users to gain access to their email accounts, and it didn’t send messages or invitations to join LinkedIn on the behalf of customers without permission.
“We do give you the choice to share your email contacts, so you can connect on LinkedIn with other professionals that you know and trust. We will continue to do everything we can to make our communications about how to do this as clear as possible,” Lawit said.
It remains to be seen if the plaintiffs manage to make their case against LinkedIn. In any situation, this will be an interesting legal battle.