LinkedIn Settles Lawsuit Over Poor Password Protection For About $1/Person

Back in 2012, hackers posted a stash of stolen passwords for several million LinkedIn accounts and was quickly sued for failing to protect its users’ information. Now the career-focused networking site has agreed to settle with 800,000 of its premium subscribers, for as little as around one dollar each.

According to the NY Times, those premium LinkedIn members share from a settlement pool totaling $1.25 million. After the lawyers get their share, and depending on how many people make a claim, the per-claimant settlement will vary. So the fewer subscribers who make a claim the better it is for those who do.

The official settlement page puts a maximum payout of $50 for each claimant.

“Following the dismissal of every other claim associated with this lawsuit, LinkedIn has agreed to this settlement to avoid the distraction and expense of ongoing litigation,” says LinkedIn, which has to get back to sending you e-mails to remind you that some random guy in Moldova has asked to connect with you on the site.

Speaking of which, the site is reportedly close to a deal in a lawsuit involving LinkedIn’s practice of repeatedly spamming people in your address list in an attempt to get them to sign up.

LinkedIn recently told the court it had accepted a settlement deal made through mediation, but the details of that proposal won’t be known until March.

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