Users of Glassdoor, a popular site where anyone can sign up anonymously to review companies they've worked for, claim that Glassdoor collected their names and added them to their user profiles without their consent. .
One user, who goes by Monica, said that as a result of an email exchange with Glassdoor customer support, Glassdoor added her name and city of residence to her Glassdoor profile, even though she never provided her name when signing. I added it and posted it on my personal blog. Up-processed a few years ago. Monica (her last name has been withheld to protect her privacy) accused Glassdoor of obtaining her full name from an email she sent to customer support and adding it to her Glassdoor profile.
“My full name is included in the 'From' line of the email. I never thought that would be a problem. '' Monica told TechCrunch via email. “Then they added my name to his Glassdoor profile.”
Monica complained to Glassdoor multiple times, telling customer support that the company did not have her consent or permission to do this. But Glassdoor said Monica was “required” to add her name to her profile, adding that this would not compromise the anonymity of past reviews she provided. . Monica said that if Glassdoor were to be hacked or breached and users' data was compromised, anonymity could no longer be maintained. It also means that this information can be obtained through legal proceedings, such as a lawsuit or police, requesting access to a Glassdoor user's data.
As Monica explained, once Glassdoor learns your real name (and sometimes other information), it adds that information to your account without your permission.
Monica said her only other option was to delete her account.
Glassdoor users expressed concern that Monica's story was being shared widely on social media and news-sharing sites, and that data about her was being collected and added to her profile, compromising her anonymity. did.
“It's unclear how they obtained this information.” Josh Simmons, Glassdoor user
Glassdoor has long allowed users to sign up anonymously. In 2021, Glassdoor acquired Fishbowl, a semi-anonymous professional social networking site that allows users to “ask questions without revealing your name.” Ars Technica, which first reported Monica's story, explained that Fishbowl requires users to verify their identity before using the site. As part of the acquisition deal, Glassdoor signed up all users for her Fishbowl account. This means Glassdoor will have to change its terms of service to allow all her Glassdoor users to authenticate as well.
Aaron McKee, an attorney with the digital rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation, told TechCrunch that Glassdoor is an “industry leader” in protecting user anonymity. McKee previously defended anonymous Glassdoor users in court whose employers tried to uncover and identify them.
“We look forward to Glassdoor continuing to protect its users' anonymity in court,” McKee said. “But the latest news about Glassdoor's policies raises concerns that users could be identified even if their information is not requested by an employer or law enforcement agency. These policies also contradict, or at least appear to contradict, Glassdoor's goal of encouraging employees to honestly evaluate their employers.”
In some cases, the data added to a user's profile did not match exactly.
Josh Simmons said it was a “breach of trust” that Glassdoor added information about him to his profile without his consent. Simmons told TechCrunch he doesn't know how Glassdoor obtained his personal data.
“It's not clear to me how they obtained this information,” Simmons told TechCrunch. He “doesn't have a social account connected to Glassdoor and hasn't used the service in several years,” suggesting the data may have been scraped or obtained from a data broker.
Simmons said the supplemented Glassdoor profile was a “disjointed jumble of details, but each detail was correct on its own,” explaining how Glassdoor accurately retrieved the name of his consulting firm. However, he explained how he had confused his location in California with his main client, who was based in London.
“Taken together, we found that it was the result of an automated process,” Simmons said.
By Glassdoor's own admission, the company says on its website that it is “unable to fully verify the identity, veracity of contributions, or employment status of users.” If the information is not accurate, it is unclear what Glassdoor's purpose for data collection is.
Glassdoor spokeswoman Amanda Livingard reached out to TechCrunch for comment, but did not provide specific details to TechCrunch, including how Glassdoor verifies the accuracy of the information it receives or how it can be used or obtained. He didn't answer any questions. Glassdoor does not publish transparency reports detailing the number of requests for user data it receives from law enforcement agencies.
Instead, the company provided the following boilerplate:
Glassdoor is committed to providing a platform where people can anonymously share their opinions and experiences about work and companies without fear of intimidation or retaliation. Glassdoor user reviews have always been and will continue to be anonymous. In the Glassdoor community, users always have the option to post using their own name or anonymously using their company name or job title. Glassdoor has never and will never publish your name with your content unless you choose to do so.
McKee said Glassdoor is collecting more information about its users that could potentially identify them, increasing the risk of data breaches and legal claims. “However, Glassdoor currently collects information from things like email addresses and headers, which means Glassdoor has data that directly identifies users,” he said.
So users like Monica have no choice but to delete their accounts if they no longer want their names on their profiles. And so did Monica.
According to Monica, closing your account simply deactivates it. If you want to permanently delete your Glassdoor account, go to this particular girl's Glassdoor privacy request page and fill out the data request form by selecting the appropriate item, such as “Delete my personal data.”
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