Does LinkedIn access your email or contact list?

I'd like to know whether this is true, and if it is, how are they accessing information from a different open tab?

My hope is that the Linkedin support staff is misinformed in this case, and that the suggestions are really being generated from the other side (email correspondents uploading their contact books on Linkedin, not this particular user.) But I have also noticed suspicious suggestions on Linkedin, and am a little concerned with this support answer, to say the least.