Yazılar

LinkedIn Lawsuit Over Customer Data Use for AI Models Dismissed

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A class action lawsuit against Microsoft’s LinkedIn, which accused the platform of using customers’ private messages to train artificial intelligence models, has been dismissed. The case was dropped by plaintiff Alessandro De La Torre on Thursday in the U.S. federal court in San Jose, California, just days after the suit was filed. LinkedIn had argued that the allegations were unfounded.

De La Torre’s lawsuit claimed that LinkedIn violated the privacy of its Premium users by disclosing their private messages to third parties involved in developing AI. He accused the platform of breaching its promise to use customer data only to enhance its services, not for external uses like AI training.

The issue came to light when LinkedIn updated its privacy policy in September, revealing that a new account setting would not affect data used in previous AI training. This disclosure sparked concerns among users about how their data was being handled.

However, LinkedIn clarified that it had not shared private messages with third parties for AI training. In a LinkedIn post, Sarah Wight, the company’s vice president and legal counsel, confirmed, “We never did that.” De La Torre’s legal team acknowledged the clarification, stating that users could take comfort in knowing their private messages had not been used for AI purposes.

Google Faces Class Action Over Alleged Mobile Phone Privacy Violations

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Google has been cleared to face a privacy class action lawsuit after a federal judge ruled that the company must answer claims it collected personal data from users’ mobile phones despite their attempt to disable tracking features. This ruling opens the door to a potential trial in August.

The class action, which targets both Android and non-Android users, accuses Google of violating California’s law against unauthorized computer access by collecting personal browsing histories without users’ consent. Users argue that despite disabling the “Web & App Activity” setting meant to prevent tracking, Google continued to capture and store their data.

Chief Judge Richard Seeborg of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California rejected Google’s arguments that it had adequately disclosed its data collection practices and that users consented to the tracking. In his 20-page ruling, Seeborg pointed to internal Google communications indicating that employees were aware that users might find the company’s data practices “alarming.” Google’s ambiguous disclosures about data collection, both within and outside Google accounts, were seen as a potential violation of users’ privacy.

In response to the ruling, Google denied the allegations, asserting that its privacy controls have been transparent and are being misrepresented. The company plans to continue defending its practices in court, calling the claims “patently false.” The plaintiffs’ lawyers, however, have yet to provide a comment.

The trial is currently scheduled for August 18, and this lawsuit follows a similar case involving Google’s Chrome browser, where the company agreed to destroy billions of data records after being accused of tracking users in “Incognito” mode. The legal teams behind both cases have valued the earlier settlement at over $5 billion.