14 DAY TRIAL // The controversial web browser plugin SellHack has been deactivated after LinkedIn sent the company that develops it a cease and desist letter due to “several violations.” The creators of SellHack claim they’re now working on developing a variant that doesn’t violate LinkedIn’s terms of service.
SellHack is a browser plugin that works on Chrome, Firefox and Safari. It’s designed to help users obtain the hidden email addresses of LinkedIn users by searching for the information in publicly available sources.
After analyzing its source code, internauts have warned that the tool is collecting email addresses and other information from all the pages visited by the user, and sends them back to the company servers.
In a blog post published on Tuesday, the creators of SellHack, which was initially developed as an internal email finder tool for sales professionals, explained that they only processed publicly visible data from LinkedIn based on the user’s profile permissions. All the harvested data has been deleted, SellHack representatives said.
They highlight LinkedIn’s statement, according to which, “no member data has been put at risk as a result of SellHack.”
“We are building a better product that does not conflict with LinkedIn’s TOS,” the Sell Hack Team noted in its blog post.
“We’ve been described as sneaky, nefarious, no good, not ‘legitimate’ amongst other references by some. We’re not. We’re dads from the midwest who like to build web and mobile products that people use,” they explained.
The company says it has witnessed a record number of signups over the past period and it’s determined to keep maintaining the product. Now, they’re asking customers for feedback to make sure the new version of the tool will be better.
The beta version of SellHack was launched back in February. No one paid too much attention to it until Yahoo Tech published a review. The review was initially positive, but it was updated after Hacker News users started analyzing the tool’s source code and functionality.
Shortly after, LinkedIn sent the company a cease and desist letter and advised users to uninstall the tool because of the privacy implications.
“We advise LinkedIn members to protect themselves and to use caution before downloading any third-party extension or app. Often times, as with the SellHack case, extensions can upload your private LinkedIn information without your explicit consent,” said LinkedIn Senior Manager of Corporate Communications Krista Canfield.
It remains to be seen if SellHack can develop a version that doesn’t upset LinkedIn.