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Comment by 0xffff2 | Hacker News Reader

Can someone explain this to me? I have a Linkedin account, and the only time I get emails is when someone wants to connect with me. I opted out of all the other email categories, just like I do with every other site.

Do people really get emails from Linkedin after opting out of every category?

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You're assuming people getting emails have LinkedIn accounts. When someone with your email signs up for LinkedIn and then lets LinkedIn access their contacts, everyone of their contacts receives and email from LinkedIn and they now have your email address to do with as they please.

Isn't that illegal in the EU?

Yes, it is.

Yup. I got hit by a bad driver who was not paying for repairs. He was high up in a national organisation for cycling. I found this out by joining up to LinkedIn and searching for him. Called his work and left a message at reception for him to "please call the guy he crashed into". He called within the hour. 3 years later the waves of spam are just as high despite unsubscribing and re unsubscribing.

Well played, sir.

That's what I thought. The waves of spam make me think that perhaps I fell into a LinkedIn marketing scam though.

I get emails on addresses that don't have linkedin accounts. I've opted out in every way indicated in the emails. They keep coming. AFAICT the only way to stop those is to actually create an account on that address.

On the address that does have an account, I've opted out of every kind of email. They just keep adding new kinds of emails every few months that I then have to opt out of again.

I've never had a LinkedIn account, and I've opted out of receiving "<Person> wants you to join their professional network on LinkedIn!" emails, and yet I somehow manage to get 2-3 messages from LinkedIn per month.

https://twitter.com/darylginn/status/590664399041519617 rings true.

They probably join groups and don't take the time to unsubscribe from the email digests.

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