Users of business networking site LinkedIn should be aware of a new batch of settings that may find some people unwittingly featuring in third-party advertising campaigns.

What has essentially happened is that LinkedIn had actually opted-in all of its users to a tweak in the settings that says they are OK with third parties using their names and photos for advertising. Ordinarily this sort of thing is the complete opposite to what the users would want, and if the service were to be opt-in from the start, the chances are that no one would want to do it. However LinkedIn are by no means the first service to sneak a controversial new feature or setting under the radar by making it opt-out. Facebook came in for some criticism for their facial recognition photo tagging suggestions feature that was rolled out in the same way.

The majority of users may never cotton on to the fact that the option is there, and those that do will probably just end up opting-out and not closing their accounts. Quite frankly, they’re obviously getting some value out of the service, and once they’ve un-checked a box in their settings they are then back to how they were before they got wind of the new feature. They may be a bit miffed for a while but this settles over time.

If you are on LinkedIn and do not want your name or face to appear in an ad that you have no control over whatsoever, you can find out how to change the settings here.