Michał "rysiek" Woźniak · 🇺🇦1d ago

There is a fresh thing going around about LinkedIn scanning extensions installed in Chrome/Chromium:
https://browsergate.eu/

The website claims "LinkedIn is Illegally Searching Your Computer", and implies the purpose is to find "religious beliefs, political opinions, disabilities".

tl;dr:
- yes, LinkedIn is scanning through a list of 6k+ extensions on Chrome;
- yes, this is bad;
- but the website is disingenuous in making unnecessarily overblown claims.

🧵

#LinkedIn #BrowserGate #Privacy

LinkedIn Is Illegally Searching Your Computer

Microsoft is running one of the largest corporate espionage operations in modern history. Every time any of LinkedIn’s one billion users visits linkedin.com, hidden code searches their computer for installed software, collects the results, and transmits them to LinkedIn’s servers and to third-party companies including an American-Israeli cybersecurity firm. The user is never asked. Never told. LinkedIn’s privacy policy does not mention it. Because LinkedIn knows each user’s real name, employer, and job title, it is not searching anonymous visitors. It is searching identified people at identified companies. Millions of companies. Every day. All over the world.

BrowserGate
Show threadMichał "rysiek" Woźniak · 🇺🇦1d ago

LinkedIn loads a lot of JS. In that JS there is a list of over 6.000 extensions, identified by their ids and with a single file path provided.

The JS then checks if it is running in Chrome or a Chromium-based browser, and cycles through that list, checking if these extensions are installed by doing a fetch() to "chrome-extension://<extension_id>/<file_path>".

If the fetch() succeeds, the extension is installed. If not, it isn't.

🧵

Show threadMichał "rysiek" Woźniak · 🇺🇦1d ago

Is this bad? Yes. It could allow fingerprinting users, and a specific set of installed extensions (say, a lot related to particular religion) could be revealing, and arguably is illegal based on GDPR.

Is this "Searching Your Computer"? No, this is not what we generally think of when "searching your computer" is mentioned. This framing is way overblown and unnecessary.

BrowserGate site also implies LI's purpose might be to gather this kind of protected data. I don't think this is warranted.

🧵

Show threadMichał "rysiek" Woźniak · 🇺🇦1d ago

BrowserGate site quotes a "sworn affidavit from LinkedIn’s Senior Engineering Manager":

> “LinkedIn has invested in extension detection mechanisms without which LinkedIn would not have been able to trace the cause of service impacts and outages.”

I don't trust Big Tech, but this is not an unreasonable explanation – although importantly, it is not a *justification* for this scanning.

In other words: LI should not be doing that. But they might not be after your religion or orientation here.

🧵

Show threadMichał "rysiek" Woźniak · 🇺🇦

The explanation might be reasonable, because extensions do affect how websites work, sometimes negatively, and the list of extensions here seems to contain mostly extensions specifically interfacing with LinkedIn.

But here's my point: this kind of scanning is an overkill. And that alone is already bad enough and infuriating.

There is no need to make overblown, click-baity claims like BrowserGate site does. That just muddies the waters ("wait, how are they scanning my computer?!").

🧵

Apr 2 at 9:39pmWeb
Show threadMichał "rysiek" Woźniak · 🇺🇦1d ago

I was not aware of the technique the scanning employs, but apparently it's a known issue on Chrome and Chromium-based browsers, and has been for years:
https://browserleaks.com/chrome

LinkedIn itself has been using it since 2017:
https://github.com/dandrews/nefarious-linkedin

And I am sure it is used by a lot of shady sites to fingerprint users and actually figure out protected information about them. It can absolutely be used that way, and Google needs to plug this huge privacy hole.

🧵/end

#Chrome #BrowserGate #Privacy

Chrome Extension Detection

Websites can detect the presence of Chrome extensions in a user's browser by sending specific URL requests that use the extension's fixed ID and attempt to access internal extension resources exposed to the web, known as web-accessible resources.

BrowserLeaks
Show threadMichał "rysiek" Woźniak · 🇺🇦1d ago

Also go see what @vantiss has to say about it:
https://social.treehouse.systems/@vantiss/116336811478744261

Credit where credit's due, I relied on her research on the earliest known instance of LinkedIn using this technique.

If you want to boost something, go boost her toot!

#BrowserGate #Chrome #Privacy

Show threadMichał "rysiek" Woźniak · 🇺🇦1d ago
And thank you to @martijn_grooten for some additional input as well!
Show thread🫧 socialcoding..22h ago

@rysiek

It is good and heartening to see nuanced reflections like these. Thank you, Rysiek!

Show threadMoses Izumi1d ago
@rysiek @vantiss
For the record, I'm the guy who pointed her to @kopper 's report.
(no hard feelings about stolen credit)
Show threadelle1d ago
@moses_izumi @rysiek
huh? he was referring to my link to the 2017 repo, not the stuff from kopper
Show threadMoses Izumi1d ago
@vantiss @rysiek
ehh.
microsoft's malfeasace is bigger than any of us.
Show threadDźwiedziu1d ago

@rysiek
> The explanation might be reasonable, because extensions do affect how websites work, sometimes negatively, and the list of extensions here seems to contain mostly extensions specifically interfacing with LinkedIn.

I'm on the fence between calling BS because HTTP 4xx codes exist, and just shrugging saying “JavaScript”.

Show threadMichał "rysiek" Woźniak · 🇺🇦1d ago

@dzwiedziu the explanation is reasonable in the sense of "I cans ee how somebody thought this is a solution to this problem".

I said before this does not justify this level of scanning though.