[joering2]

any idea why they need to save it in plain text? no encryption mechanism provided in the world of open source?

[corin_]

In order to log into a user's LinkedIn account with the password, they need to be able to give LinkedIn the password in plain text.

So yes, they can and most likely do encrypt it in some way, but in order for their server to be able to decrypt it when using it, they must naturally have to have the decryption code/passkey/etc stored on the server.

[crescentfresh]

"...we need to be able to rederive the plaintext"

The use of the word rederive sounds like it may be encrypted to me.