I was just on LinkedIn and was quite shocked when I saw a suggestion to connect with someone I haven't heard from in about 9-10 years.<p>- This person was a friend from a community college course I took in high school and have not seen or spoken to since.
- My LinkedIn email has no correlation or correspondence with either the community college or with him. I know LinkedIn has a history of pilfering contacts, but I use a business email that wasn't even created at that time.
- I don't even mention on the site that I took a random robotics course at a community college or was even enrolled there.
- There are no mutual connections.<p>So how in the world would LinkedIn think I know him?
I've had a similar disquieting occurance on that site.. my step-aunt from another state was suggested as a connection. I never talk with her online, only over land line telephone conversations. She even has a different last name.<p>As far as I can guess, they use publicly available information to make these suggestions, they might have been able to see that you went to the same college.