While Facebook is, by far, the dominant “social” networking site, it’s rarely used for professional networking. Instead, people go to places like Microsoft’s LinkedIn when it comes time to look for a job or just put their resumés out there. But in Facebook’s quest to be all things to all users, it is testing new features that mimic much of what you’d see on LinkedIn. [More]
Burger King Giving Free Whoppers To Customers Who Admit To Being Fired
By 8.29.17
Getting fired from a job is rarely something you want to declare publicly. But what if it gets you a free Whopper at Burger King?
[More]
LinkedIn Can’t Block Third-Party Scanning Of Public Profiles To Identify Employees Most Likely To Leave
By 8.15.17
LinkedIn is trying to stop a third-party analytics firm from scanning publicly available profiles on the networking site with the purpose of identifying employees most likely to jump ship to a competitor. But a federal judge has granted an injunction against LinkedIn, saying the company appears to be misinterpreting the law in a way that “could profoundly impact open access to the Internet.” [More]
Apple Says Systems Not Breached After Hackers Threaten To Wipe Millions Of iPhones
By 3.23.17
Earlier this week, a group of hackers claimed to have email addresses and passwords for hundreds of millions of Apple accounts, and that it would use this information to remotely erase massive numbers of iPhones if a ransom weren’t paid. For its part, Apple says no account information was stolen from its servers. [More]
LinkedIn’s Education Service Lynda.com Latest Data Breach Victim
By 12.19.16
Less than a week after Yahoo confirmed a second data breach affecting nearly one billion users, another online social network has been targeted by hackers: LinkedIn says that its online education service — Lynda.com — is the latest hack attack victim, albeit with a much lower number of affected victims. [More]
Access To LinkedIn Now Officially Blocked In Russia
By 11.17.16 — Updated: 2.3.17
In 2014, the Russian government introduced a law requiring that any online service storing personal data of Russian people must store that particular data within the country’s borders. Today, career-networking site LinkedIn became the first major U.S. website to be blocked because of this new law. [More]
Why Is Microsoft Spending $26 Billion To Acquire LinkedIn?
By 6.13.16
Microsoft will soon have your resume on file — or at least the resume of a few hundred million LinkedIn members. The two companies announced a deal this morning that would see Microsoft pay $26.2 billion to acquire the job-networking site. [More]
Even Mark Zuckerberg Isn’t Impervious To Recycling Passwords, Having Accounts Hacked
By 6.6.16
Here’s why you should keep track of hacks and breaches and not re-use passwords: because even the king of the modern internet isn’t immune from account takeovers… and if he’s not, you’re not either. [More]
Remember That LinkedIn Breach Back In 2012? It May Have Been Bigger
By 5.18.16
Hey, do you remember back in 2012 when hackers hit LinkedIn, stole a few million passwords, and released them online? It was a while ago, so don’t feel bad if you don’t. LinkedIn simply can’t leave the breach behind, though: there are now another 117 million e-mail addresses and passwords for sale on an underground marketplace. [More]
Facebook, Reddit, Wells Fargo, Bank Of America CEOs Among Those Urging North Carolina To Repeal New Anti-LGBT Law
By 3.31.16
Earlier this month, in a hurried legislative process, North Carolina lawmakers passed HB2, a bill that overrides and prevents local governments from establishing anti-discrimination rules against gay and transgender people. This morning, advocacy groups delivered a letter to NC Gov. Pat McCrory signed by top executives from more than 100 companies, all calling for the state to repeal the law. [More]
LinkedIn Jumping Into The Education Business (Kind Of) With $1.5B Purchase Of Lynda.com
By 4.9.15
Human resources and professional networking site LinkedIn appears to be broadening its horizons by way of a little education. The company announced today that it struck a deal to buy online career-skills education company lynda.com for about $1.5 billion. [More]
The Numbers Show Startups Can’t Get Enough Of Calling Themselves The “Uber” For This, The “Airbnb” Of That
By 3.20.15
If you’ve been hearing startup companies throw around phrases like, “We’re the Uber of [insert industry that is not ride-hailing]!” or “Our service functions just like the Airbnb of [another industry that is not renting out rooms to strangers]!” you’re not alone. A recent analysis of language used by startups to describe their businesses show that a lot of them are hitching their apple carts to those brands’ rising stars. [More]
LinkedIn Settles Lawsuit Over Poor Password Protection For About $1/Person
By 2.23.15
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. [More]
LinkedIn Ads Will Now Follow You Around The Web. Here’s How To Opt Out
By 2.19.15
Because we can’t go anywhere online without some social network tracking our data and using it to cash in on targeted advertising, LinkedIn has created its own online ad network that will allow advertisers to follow you around the web based on the information that LinkedIn knows about you. [More]
LinkedIn Must Pay Employees $6M For Unpaid Overtime
By 8.4.14
What happens when a company built on human resources and professional networking doesn’t act so professional? In the case of LinkedIn, the business is ordered to pay employees $6 million for unpaid overtime and damages. [More]
LinkedIn Has To Face User Lawsuit Over E-Mail Privacy Violations, Judge Rules
By 6.13.14
We’ve all been there: somebody you knew like eight years ago joins LinkedIn, and the site asks you to go add them as a contact. You ignore the e-mail, because hey, you don’t even remember Bob that well, but LinkedIn doesn’t let it go. It asks you again and again to go add Bob to your network. And by the third message you might well be thinking, “Bob! Stop it! I never want to hear from you again! Go away!” Well, now Bob — and all the real, actual people just like him — can sue LinkedIn about that, a court has ruled. [More]
Virgin America Setting Up In-Flight Social Networking To Connect Flying Strangers
By 2.13.14
For those of you who not only can’t stand to be separated from some form of social networking for even a second but also have a burning desire to connect with strangers, Virgin America has got just the thing for you. The airline is teaming with a location-aware social app to boost in-flight networking, even with people not currently in the same airplane as you. [More]
Feds To Allow Tech Companies To Provide More Transparent Info On Data Requests
By 1.27.14
While a number of the largest websites and telecom companies have recently published transparency data detailing the number of data requests made about consumers, these companies have been very limited with regard to what they could say about federal requests that fall under the header of national security. In response to a call for more transparency from several major Internet businesses, the government is changing its restrictions. [More]
