Class Action Alleges LinkedIn Failed To Abide by Data Security Promises to Users

LinkedIn Corp.'s alleged failure to follow industry standards—as well as its own promises—in encrypting user passwords violates California consumer protection laws and amounts to a breach of contract, a class action filed June 15 in a federal district court in California says (Szpyrka v. LinkedIn Corp., N.D. Cal., No. 5:12-cv-03088).

The putative class action, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, comes less than two weeks after it was reported that hackers obtained June 6 approximately 6.5 million passwords from the professional social networking site.

Plaintiff Katie Szpyrka repeatedly emphasizes that LinkedIn’s privacy ...