LinkedIn Attempts to Yoink Your Data

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If you haven’t heard by now, LinkedIn suddenly implemented a “feature” into their social network that automatically opts you into allowing them to use all of your data for AI training. To top it off, they’ve done this before altering their terms of service. So, technically, nobody’s agreed to this. But! We all know the people behind large learning models absolutely do not know what consent is.

Real quick, how to turn it off:

Click “Me” at the top, then go to “Settings and Privacy,” then click the “Data Privacy” tab. I want to note how hilarious it is to have a tab called “Data Privacy” where they’re automatically taking all of your data to sell to the highest bidder, and to feed into Microsoft’s plagiarism machines. But anyway … then click, “Data for Generative AI Improvement,” and then toggle that off.

Problem solved!

But, honestly? Who the heck uses LinkedIn? The last time I seriously attempted to use the site as a social network, I felt like I should’ve been compensated for my time, you know, paid. I felt like I should’ve gone to work the next day and filled out a time adjustment just for logging into the Founder Zone.

Surely there’s a better way to go about advertising what you can do and who you are to the world, where your thoughts can stream independently and not be Zucked up by some kind of machine that’s melting the ice caps, right?

Everything you can do on LinkedIn, you can accomplish by building a portfolio, having a resume, and posting on normal social media regularly by sometimes showcasing your skills, and asking about job opportunities. This happens on the fediverse all of the time. Yes, I am once again suggesting you Join Mastodon.

You don’t need a social network where everyone is talking in customer service voice and never allowing their minds a break from work-life.

And, I mean, for sure, it goes without saying …

Microsoft’s version of AI is pretty inescapable, despite measures I’ve taken by … using Linux on my main machine, having an iPhone (which will now have an opt-in AI feature), and shelving my Xbox. But, this website is also fed through Github in order to be built, and deployed, and I do still keep some old files on Microsoft’s cloud drive.

Whichever way you look at it, you’ve already been scraped by billionaires who should have paid you for your time, energy, and data. And, maybe someday they’ll be forced to.

But that doesn’t mean you should subject yourself to LinkedIn, and allow Microsoft to take even more of your data. In the open web, I call that self harm.