A legal scholar calls LinkedIn's position “hugely problematic.”

Microsoft is about to close the books on its $26.2 billion deal to purchase the professional social networking service LinkedIn. On Tuesday, it was announced that the European Commission had given its blessing to Microsoft, adding it to a list of regulators that approved the merger, including the U.S., Canada, Brazil, and South Africa. However, there’s a bit of a catch.

We all took a collective gasp when we saw the price tag of Microsoft’s acquisition of LinkedIn. Now that the dust has settled a bit, we can pause and reflect on what this means from a data, privacy and email perspective — given that all three are potential strengths, weaknesses and concerns arising from the merger of two giants. While at a conference recently, I sat down with my colleague and friend, Dennis Dayman, chief privacy officer at Return Path, and discussed how this deal could change the B2B data landscape. Here’s what he had to say.

Facebook cofounder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg understandably has accounts on other social networks – it only makes sense to keep up with what the competition is up to. But that doesn't mean he bothers to maintain standard security practices on non-Facebook properties. This weekend, his Twitter and Pinterest accounts were hacked. The group responsible, OurMine Team, also claimed to have gained accessed to his zuck Instagram account...

And all I did was happen to share a name with one. By Will Johnson.

Another day, another security breach. They've almost become routine to many of us. This latest one actually happened in 2012, when LinkedIn, and later EHarmony, revealed that hackers had stolen the login info for about 6.5 million users. The new development is the revelation it actually affected over 100 million users. (Yes, that's significantly more.) And now a hacker is selling user data on the Dark Web marketplace...

More than 100 million LinkedIn users might be more vulnerable Wednesday, after their email and passwords have been uploaded online and reportedly for sale. LinkedIn issued a statement saying it is aware of the situation, but added that this is not a new data breach as the information was taken during a hack in 2012. “Yesterday, we became aware of an additional set of data that had just been released,” LinkedIn said in its statement.

LinkedIn's stock had its worst day ever. Shares cratered by as much as 44% in trading on Friday after the company reported a quarterly loss on Thursday, with guidance that was weaker than expected. It was the worst decline ever for the stock and has erased about $10 billion of the company's value. The social network for professionals said that it expected first-quarter adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.55, but analysts had estimated $0.75, according to Bloomberg.

Some pranksters are working hard to create fake LinkedIn profiles. Why? The strange debut of "Alice Powell" sheds some light on this mystery.

Creative director Lance Evans gives some pointers on how to use LinkedIn for lead generation.

There has been some debate over how to use LinkedIn. Is it quality or quantity? But the biggest challenge is getting those Linkedin invitations to accept.

When it comes to your LinkedIn profile, I've been telling professionals, "Brand or be branded".

Discover how professional content marketers can take full advantage of LinkedIn with these seven tips that help you build authority on the platform.

You're a motivated, passionate expert with extensive experience? So is everybody else.

LinkedIn is great to build your reputation and grow a professional network. Creating a perfect LinkedIn profile is vital for that memorable first impression

Do you use LinkedIn to connect with business prospects and connections? This article shares two third-party apps to improve your LinkedIn communication.

Publishing on LinkedIn is a powerful way to reach your prospects and generate leads. Here are some tips to create and publish that killer article on LinkedIn

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Sometimes you just need to join a community to discuss questions you have about WordPress. Checkout some Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn groups for WordPress

LinkedIn is one of the most powerful business networks. 300+ million members and 49% are key decision makers. Here are 3 LinkedIn Tools that the pros use.