LinkedIn wins dismissal of lawsuits over scanning Chrome extensions

• LinkedIn has defeated two lawsuits alleging it illegally scanned users' browser extensions.
• US District Judge Vince Chhabria dismissed the cases, stating plaintiffs did not adequately allege a privacy violation or standing to sue.
• The judge noted that users voluntarily download browser extensions, which intentionally expose data to websites.
• Plaintiffs Nicholas Farrell and Jeff Ganan filed separate class actions in April.
• The lawsuits stemmed from a report by Fairlinked alleging LinkedIn illegally searched computers.
• LinkedIn stated it uses detection systems to identify automated scraping and bot activity.

LinkedIn has successfully had two class-action lawsuits dismissed that accused the company of illegally scanning users' browser extensions. US District Judge Vince Chhabria ruled that the plaintiffs failed to adequately allege that they had standing to sue, as neither asserted that they had browser extensions installed that conveyed private information to LinkedIn.

In his ruling on Tuesday, Chhabria gave the plaintiffs leave to amend their complaints but expressed doubt that they could make a plausible case. He noted that users voluntarily download browser extensions, which by their nature intentionally expose data to websites, making it unlikely for plaintiffs to allege a privacy violation.

The lawsuits were filed by California residents Nicholas Farrell and Jeff Ganan, stemming from a report by Fairlinked alleging that LinkedIn was illegally searching users' computers. LinkedIn did not deny scanning browsers for extensions, stating in its privacy policy that it collects information about users' web browsers and add-ons. The company also argued that it uses detection systems to identify automated scraping and bot activity, such as that deployed by Teamfluence, an Estonian platform whose CEO was banned by LinkedIn.

LinkedIn stated that its detection tools identify browser extensions that could threaten the platform's security and integrity, and that the information detected is publicly available and not private. The company also noted that some Chrome extensions extract job listings and data from its website, which is prohibited by LinkedIn's terms of service.