A US judge dismisses two lawsuits against LinkedIn over its scanning of browser extensions, saying users voluntarily expose data by downloading extensions (Jon Brodkin/Ars Technica)

A US judge has dismissed two lawsuits against LinkedIn over its practice of scanning users' browser extensions. The lawsuits, filed by California residents Nicholas Farrell and Jeff Ganan in April, claimed that LinkedIn had violated users' privacy. However, Judge Vince Chhabria of the US District Court for the Northern District of California ruled that the plaintiffs failed to adequately allege that they had standing to sue.

According to Chhabria, the plaintiffs did not assert that they had browser extensions installed that conveyed private information to LinkedIn. The judge gave the plaintiffs leave to amend their complaints but expressed doubts that they could make a plausible case. Chhabria also noted that users voluntarily download browser extensions, which by their nature intentionally expose data to websites.

The plaintiffs' attorney, J.R. Howell, said he is evaluating whether to bring the claims in a California state court or to appeal the US district court ruling in the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Brief written by urgent.news from Techmeme, Ars Technica Policy, Ars Technica — 3 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.