Another shot has been fired in the war to own the social career networks — TechCrunch reported Friday that LinkedIn has cut off access to its data to both BranchOut and Monster’s BeKnown, among others, citing terms of service violations.

As our parent site, ERE.net has reported, both BranchOut and BeKnown services are designed to leverage Facebook’s social graph and more than 750 million users to help them find career opportunities through their friends. Until LinkedIn’s move, they had been able to use the API to give those Facebook users a shortcut in creating a resume on their own services, making them easier to set up.

As this conflict unfolds, we are going to hear a lot from each party about how they are acting in consumer’s best interests, while the other side is trampling their rights. Don’t be fooled by the rhetoric though — all three companies are simply following the money and acting for their own best interests.