A response to LinkedIn Discussion on Public Profile Privacy
M. Joyce McMenamin
Creator & “Chief-of-Quite-A-Lot” at IDEA MASTERS Online Real Time Magazine
Something strange… How Do You Feel About Your LI Profile Being Used by “Whatever” sites?
Has anyone else’s LI profile been ‘taken’ by: http://jobfu.org
1. I am partly outraged.
2. I am not surprised.
3. I would hope LI would protect our profiles to some extent.
4. I am not looking for a job and do not desire to have a “living resume’ posted at this site that takes my LI profile content.
5. I will report to LI after my deadlines this week.
6. Have any of you been searching on your links in your profile lately?
7. I do this as a routine.
8. Viral stuff is cool.
9. But screwing with my profile - is not.
10. Ya know - I use YOUTUBE videos on one of my sites where we offer 99% “free” reading content - I don’t grab copy from free articles databases and we only use copy that has been submitted to us for publishing through authors or their agents. I would never promote this site that has essentially raped my LI profile…
There are some partnerships that LI has out there — I think Fast Company is one of them - where you can link into your LI profile to save time — but we’re given an option to do that. That’s fair.
It’s cool.
I love to use my LI profile because it makes my life easier.
But… this www.jobfu.org — doesn’t get my vote.
It’s stuff like this that screws up net freedom (e.g., neutrality - which I support).
When it’s abused.
It’s like being on the cover of a cheap tabloid.
Only not being a movie star or celeb - “we” don’t get to sue… but LI could, no doubt.
Bottom line … how do you feel about your profile on LI being posted to a “whatever site”?
Clarification added 1 day ago:
To Hell with deadlines! I sent my complaint in to LI-CS.
I hope they stop this.
They have the VC to cover the legal — one would think.
Clarification added 1 day ago:
I DO NOT think LI knows about this — even the offending site itself says its NOT affiliated with LI — but they’re using the power of the LI database (grabbed) to pump up their SEO — this is what I think… I sent screen prints to LI… we routinely search stuff out — that’s why we don’t allow right clicking on our new site and stopped doing PDF downloads — too many people out there grabbing… a simple cease and desist letter should suffice since the originator is in the US. I think LI should have at least one person on staff looking for this kind of stuff, don’t you?
Anyway - I like my LI profile and I don’t want it used anywhere I do not agree to - that’s all.
Clarification added 23 hours ago:
RE: COMMENT ABOUT FREE ADVERTISING: Don’t get me wrong — I’m “all for” an open net and usually I have no problem graciously accepting free advertising (whp would, right?) — but there is another issue or two here:
1. The profile detail is a copyright of LI’s
2. The JOBFU site does not allow me a “choice” to take my profile off of their site
3. If I “claim” my profile I have to enter my LI password — if I don’t “claim” my profile — then who else could - (what’s that about?)
4. How does a site that says it is “not affiliated with LI” have access to our LI passwords for verification? Or does it?
That’s the bottom line here.
When I set up a profile with a third party who has the copyright to my information — I do so using the format they provided with the underlying promise that my information will be represented in the manner I original signed up for - if I give my info copyright to a third party so that they can create a business that uses my info and your info and everybody else’s info — then that’s “one” thing… but not being able to remove my profile from this other site without supplying my LI password — when the site says it is NOT affiliated with LI is bothering me… “a lot”.
My Response:
Wow… Quite a riotous crusade you going here. Brandon actually created a very useful API. LinkedIn is acting in a very reserved fashion as it slowly morphs itself into a professionals Facebook. Apparently the change is not coming fast enough for some innovators.
I’m a bit shocked that so many Web 2.0 savvy professionals are so incensed by something that is so natural it should have happened a long time ago. In the world of the internet, where people commit suicide on YouTube, one can hardly be surprised that someone finally figured out a way to aggregate public LinkedIn profiles.
The internet is a public place. If LinkedIn actually pays attention to any complains, Brandon’s visitor traffic spike will probably bring down his servers anyhow. I just hope his Adwords account is set up.
This is brilliant. He never finished the application. Your resume is not stored anywhere. It is a mirror. The XML parses the LinkedIn profile into a different CSS style sheet and spits it out on the site.
It uses Ajax to update the resume page in real time as you update the LinkedIn page. All the website registration info is legitimate. The app does not store the password. In fact, I doubt there is a database behind this app. There is no DB because it would take a HUGE amount of space to sore all the information in all the profiles and space costs money. The hosting costs for the website are negligible.
Why would someone throw money after a half baked application that the guy is not looking to develop further. I know this because he stopped answering comments on it 4 months ago. The site has no page rank. “jobfu” only comes up in 332 searches… my name “gene leshinsky” comes up in 1,830. This means he’s not actually marketing it and that it’s not very popular. Actually, no one knows about it outside our little discussion.
Furthermore, Jobfu.jobmatic.COM(where the job postings are) is actually created by a well known company SimplyHired.com, no affiliation with jobfu.ORG, Brandon’s little brainchild.
This guy was just having a little fun with google ajax api’s. Give him a break and a pat on the back for creativity. After all we are having this discussion because someone didn’t like the way Facebook and MySpace profiles looked and what they were used for.
.
Now for the moral and ethical part of it…
Bottom line: If you are that concerned about your privacy, stay away from internet activity of any kind. That means go into a room and seal it. With reinforced concrete.
Approach it with a bit of fatalism: if a brick is going to fall on you, it will fall on you…
Happy Holidays!
