LinkedIn Woopsie with the Outlook 2010 Social Media Connector

Posted by Martin Hinshelwood on Geeks with Blogs See other posts from Geeks with Blogs or by Martin Hinshelwood
Published on Wed, 28 Apr 2010 15:58:06 GMT Indexed on 2010/04/28 17:04 UTC
Read the original article Hit count: 404

Filed under:

linkedin-logoI have always used the LinkedIn toolbar for Outlook to sort out, upload and sync my contacts. Because of this I have over 2000 contacts in my contacts list that I sync with my phone, Plaxo, live, Google and others.


I got a surprise the other day when my LinkedIn account was suspended and I was unable to login.

image[4] 
Figure: Bad, account suspended

 

So I contacted LinkedIn customer services to find out what the problem is, and here is the response:

Dear Martin,


We have recently noticed a large number of page searches and profile views through your LinkedIn account. We are aware that you may be using an automated or manual process to systematically view LinkedIn web pages.
The information within LinkedIn is provided by our users for usage on the site only. In order to protect user privacy, our User Agreement prohibits using:
1. Automated or manual means to view an excessively high number of profiles or mini-profiles.
2. Automated means to run searches to collect or store data obtained from our site.
We have placed a restriction on your account until you agree to stop using these or similar methods to view pages on LinkedIn.
We look forward to your reply to discuss this further.

Sincerely,
LinkedIn Privacy Team

It looks like LinkedIn has suspended my account because of something that their component is doing! I do not know if this is an isolated case, or if it will happen more as more users get on Outlook 2010 and update to the new software, but watch out.

Has anyone else been suspended who has installed the Office 2010 RTM and the LinkedIn Add-On?

Technorati Tags: ,,

© Geeks with Blogs or respective owner