AAPL Apple Inc

   (FROM THE WALL STREET JOURNAL 10/6/15) 

LinkedIn Settles

Over Solicitations

LinkedIn Corp. agreed to pay $13 million to settle a class-action lawsuit over sending email solicitations to its members contacts without permission.

The 2013 class-action lawsuit challenged LinkedIn's practices around a feature called Add Connections. The lawsuit accused LinkedIn, in implementing the feature, of commandeering members' email accounts and using their names without permission in pursuit of growing its membership.

LinkedIn denied the accusations, contending that it has permission to use members' email accounts, names and contacts in connection with the Add Connections feature.

Add Connections prompts users to import their email contacts and automatically invites the contacts to connect on LinkedIn. If an invitation isn't accepted within a certain period, LinkedIn sends up to two reminder emails to alert the recipient that an invitation is waiting.

The court found that LinkedIn members consented to the company using their contacts and sending invitations to connect. However, members didn't consent to LinkedIn sending reminders, the court found.

-- Georgia Wells

Malware Targets

Apple in China, Taiwan

Cybersecurity researchers have identified malware that targets users of Apple Inc.'s iOS mobile operating system in China and Taiwan, subjecting them to nuisances like unwanted, full-screen advertisements.

The news comes just two weeks after researchers said that in a first-of-its-kind security breach, several popular Chinese mobile apps were infected with a different kind of malware, dubbed XcodeGhost, by hackers targeting Apple's iOS mobile platform. The newly announced infections, however, appear much more limited in scope.

In a blog post Monday, U.S. cybersecurity firm Palo Alto Networks said the new strain of malware, called YiSpecter, spreads via malicious code inserted into Web pages, a PC worm, and various underground app distribution websites.

-- Newley Purnell

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 05, 2015 19:18 ET (23:18 GMT)

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