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Posted by robin_reala 2 days ago

LinkedIn profile visitor lists belong to the people, says Noyb(www.theregister.com)
221 points | 131 commentspage 2
immanuwell 2 days ago|
Noyb basically built a logic trap linkedin can't squirm out of: either selling the visitor list to premium users is illegal or handing it over for free under article 15 is mandatory - pick one
dec0dedab0de 2 days ago||
Interesting, does that mean if you use google analytics you can demand the details google has about every user that hits your site?
nkmnz 1 day ago||
I think the key point here is that LinkedIn distributes personal data of the profile owner to the visitor. That data is subject to GDPR, so the plaintiff assumes that they have the right to know who received that data from LinkedIn.

What kind of personal data of the website owner does google analytics distribute that makes that analogy work?

codethief 1 day ago||
No, because your site is not a person, so data related to it is not protected under GDPR.
dec0dedab0de 1 day ago||
what if the site is just a personal blog?
codethief 1 day ago||
There is still no personal data in Google Analytics? And even if there is, that data is public.
strictnein 1 day ago||
I don't quite get the "GDPR requires you to share with someone the personal details of people who happened to visit a webpage that you setup on a free website" angle here. I don't get how that's your data and not the data of the people who visited the page?

That seems to violate the GDPR more than the current state, no? If I accidentally click on your profile you're entitled to my name and employer and that's your data now? Makes no sense, other than from a "GDPR good, US tech bad!" angle, I guess.

buzer 1 day ago||
It's both your data and that person's data.

(copied from my earlier comment) I think it's very close to C-579/21 which was about audit logs. In that one CJEU ruled that audit logs are personal data of you and the person who performed the action. They did allow censoring the person's name in that case (and exact timestamp), but given that in this case LI is selling this information to same person then "protecting others" rings pretty hollow.

jjouett 1 day ago|||
Agree, I don't fully understand the argument that this would be the owning profiles data, and not either Linkedin's or the viewer's. Would you be entitled to search query data from Google because your website is in some query results, and Google has to provide you that metadata for free?
camillomiller 1 day ago||
I believe that the case here is different. That would be true, say, for your substack page. But in this case, your "profile" is more than just a web page, it contains personal information, which albeit public, is your property according to the law. Therefore any interaction with it falls under article 15. Personally I would find it fantastic if LinkedIn is forced to make this feature available to all users. I can't see it but as a win for consumers and a loss for inducing payment through extraction of interrelational value.
ChrisArchitect 1 day ago||
[dupe] Some more on source: https://noyb.eu/en/linkedin-locks-your-gdpr-rights-behind-pa... (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48019775)
Fokamul 2 days ago||
Linkedin, aka premium database for spear-phishing?

Linkedin is the best thing what happened for phishing since 4ever.

If you have a profile there, you're already lost. They gather your data and even network layout if you just open linkedin.

krystalgamer 2 days ago|
don't see the issue, the data of who visited my profile belongs first to the visitor and to me iff i pay for it. seems pretty clear, no?
throw_a_grenade 2 days ago|
No, that's the point. If the data pertains to you, it's yours. No "iff I pay for it".
chasd00 2 days ago|||
wouldn't that mean every piece of cctv footage that has me in it also belongs to me? i don't see it (no pun intended).
bee_rider 2 days ago|||
I don’t think anyone has tested that in court. I wouldn’t be surprised if it should belong to you but fact that most CCTV footage is (or at least was) stored by small independent entities means that you aren’t aware that your CCTV data exists, or wouldn’t find it worthwhile to request it all.

It would be an interesting angle of attack against classic surveillance, though. If there are any vendors that store the video in some centralized system, so you can request it all at once.

But, I think there will be some hurdles, this case specifically relies on the fact that LinkedIn clearly doesn’t believe there’s any reason to keep this data private (they sell users access to it, after all).

vidarh 2 days ago|||
You absolutely can request CCTV footage of you in the EEA. You need to specify time period with sufficient specificity, and how to identify you so they can ensure they are handing out footage of you, but you have a right to it.

It's rarely going to be worth requesting, but if you e.g. need evidence for a civil case, for example, it could be.

k33n 2 days ago|||
It’s a little more complicated than that, because ultimately I control whether you see that I viewed your profile or not, even if you’re a Premium member. If I don’t want other users to see that I viewed their profile, then I don’t get to see who viewed my profile. It’s a setting.
bee_rider 2 days ago||
Oh, I assumed this was just about the views from the folks who hadn’t enabled the private viewing option.
k33n 2 days ago||
It would have to be, if they were to try and take this argument further. But ultimately the question of who the data is concerning/belongs to is more complex than the article lets on because there are two users involved in the scenario that generated the data.
bee_rider 2 days ago||
In either case it must belong to one of the users, so I guess it will be good to clarify.
cge 2 days ago||||
That is true in the EU in a number of circumstances. You can do a data access request for CCTV footage of yourself; I’ve successfully done this before, and some organizations give out CCTV footage this way often enough they have websites about their procedures. For organizations I know of, they blur other people in the footage.
throw_a_grenade 2 days ago|||
Yes, of course. In European cities there are GDPR disclosures hanged on the lampposts on which CCTV cameras are mounted. The disclosure contains retention period and contact to data processing inspector where you can request the data. You probably need to specify the timestamps and haw to recognise you.

In commercial buildings the disclosure may hang on the wall besides main entrance.

Everything as designed.

krystalgamer 2 days ago|||
exactly, but it doesn’t pertain to you until you pay.

if we assume there’s a directional graph with edges labeled as “visited”. what linkedin is offering is to traverse it backwards for a fee.

what they’re demanding is ludicrous. pure entitlement that would have horrible ramifications for all social media platforms.

should a gdpr export include who has unliked/unreposted your posts too? it definitely pertains to you.

throw_a_grenade 2 days ago|||
> it doesn’t pertain to you until you pay

Respectfully, that's bollocks. The data, by itself, either does, or it does not. Exchange of unrelated money does not change anything in the data itself. IOW, it's the data that matters, not a wannabe-service that is pitched to the rightful owners.

scronkfinkle 2 days ago|||
"Pertains" is doing a lot of work in your argument, and you're using it wrong. The data about who viewed your profile pertains to you from the moment the visit happens. That's what that word means, so your first statement is false.

The other important detail is that LinkedIn already has processed this data that definitely pertains to you, whether you paid for it or not, and are trying to sell it to you. In fact, to quote the article, LinkedIn's argument for not giving it to the user is "on the grounds that protecting that data took precedence". LinkedIn isn't withholding viewer data to protect viewer privacy. We know this because they sell it. If the viewer's privacy interest were so compelling that it overrides your Article 15 right (which is what Noyb is referring to), it would also be compelling enough to prevent LinkedIn from selling that same data to Premium subscribers.

The argument being made for this specific feature (not the ones you added) is that you can't simultaneously claim the data is too privacy-sensitive to disclose under GDPR and then sell it as a product feature

krystalgamer 1 day ago||
> The argument being made for this specific feature

great display of intellectual honesty here.