LinkedIn values your privacy at ONE WHOLE LOUSY DOLLAR

LinkedIn, which leaked millions of passwords in 2012, has settled the class action that followed its egregious error.

The original leak was made to a Russian doc-drop site, and it quickly emerged that the recruitment site social network for business wasn't salting the passwords it hashed before storing them in its database, making it easier for attackers to recover the passwords.

That led 800,000 American users of LinkedIn premium services to kick off a class action lawsuit which, after being kicked around the legal system for a while, finally got narrowed down to something the social site could live with and it decided to settle: a whole US$1.25 million which leaves everybody with a dollar after the lawyers take their hunk.

It might be more than a dollar. After all, not everybody associate with the original class action will get around to filing a claim.

Out of those, the requirements of the claim process will thin out the field even further. To get the paltry payoff requires that claimants “can attest that you were influenced by LinkedIn's statements in its User Agreement or Privacy Policy about its security when you signed up for a LinkedIn premium subscription”, the settlement claim site states.

Even then, the court might still decide not to approve the final settlement.

Earlier this month, LinkedIn announced Q4 2014 revenue of US$643 million and annual revenue of $US2,219 million, up 44 per cent and 45 per cent respectively on the corresponding 2013 periods. ®