Unfortunately, the author perpetuates the myth that those Linkedin requests are coming from individuals. In fact most of them are auto-generated (and address spoofed) by Linkedin from email addresses collected possibly many years ago and without the knowledge of the purported sender.
So LinkedIn uses "dark patterns" to trick users into contact list import and sending invitations, this is well-known.
But are they really sending e-mails in someone's name without their consent? Or do they just make it very hard to understand what you're consenting to?
I don't want to defend LinkedIn, I'd just like to understand the extent of their unethical behavior.
I think you also understand already that if you're not properly informed, you're not really consenting. This is like putting super small text in a contract and then saying "but you signed it!". On some level most people feel that this isn't a genuine dealing and that it isn't fair. Let's not muddy those waters by arguing about whether or not US law thinks it's OK to take advantage of people in this way (the only reason I mention this at all is that these discussions usually devolve into that and it's incredibly tiresome).
