What you need to know
- LinkedIn is one of the most recent apps to fall foul of recent clipboard snooping revelations.
- The professional networking app was found to be reading user clipboard in iOS.
- A New York-based iPhone user is now suing the company.
A New York-based iPhone user has sued LinkedIn in San Francisco after LinkedIn emerged as the latest app to be caught clipboard snooping in iOS 14.
What is clipboard snooping, and should I be worried about it?
LinkedIn was sued by a New York-based iPhone user on Friday for allegedly reading and diverting users' sensitive content from Apple Inc's (AAPL.O) Universal Clipboard application.
Apple released a new feature in iOS 14 which notifies users every time an app reads the contents of their clipboard, LinkedIn, along with Reddit, TikTok, and more have all been found guilty of the practice.
From last week's report:
One of Apple's focuses for privacy in iOS 14 is giving users more information about what apps and websites are doing in the background with their information. One of those features is alerting users when an app copies the contents of your clipboard, and LinkedIn just got caught doing that - a lot.Twitter user DonCubed, a developer for portfolio builder Urspace, posted a video showing that the LinkedIn app was copying the contents of his clipboard on every single keystroke.
LinkedIn attributed the behavior to a bug, and stated that it does not store or transmit the clipboard contents, it has recently updated its app to end the practice.
According to the report:
The lawsuit seeks to certify the complaint as class action based on alleged violation of the law or social norms, under California laws.According to the complaint, LinkedIn has not only been spying on its users, it has been spying on their nearby computers and other devices, and it has been circumventing Apple's Universal Clipboard timeout.
