Seeking to settle a class-action lawsuit, LinkedIn, the largest business-oriented social network, has agreed to compensate up to 800,000 people who paid for its premium services.
The lawsuit alleges that the company falsely assured users it was using strong security measures to protect their personal information.
However in June 2012 a file containing 6.5 million encoded LinkedIn user passwords was posted on a Russian hacker site. The passwords had been protected with a weak form of security, allowing hackers to easily unravel the code and find the actual passwords.
Under the settlement, approved by a federal district court in Northern California, 800,000 American users who paid for premium services between March 15, 2006 and June 7, 2012, are eligible to make a claim on the US$1.25 million settlement fund.
Ahem. After fees for the plaintiffs’ lawyers are deducted, that works out to about $1 for each affected user.
