Yahoo! criticised over e-mail 'snooping' for advertising

[Jack]

A leading consumer group has accused Yahoo! of scanning through personal e-mails for information to use to sell advertising.

The world's largest e-mail provider says signing up to its new service means scanning technology will be used to block spam, and eventually to offer adverts relevant to the user.

But Sarah Kidner fom watchdog Which? Computing says "This is a blatant intrusion of privacy".

A Yahoo! spokesperson said, a box will appear 'asking for users' consent'.

"To look for keywords and links to further protect you from spam, surface photos [photos sent from friends which then won't go straight to spam] and in time, serve users with interest-based advertising."

Users could then see pop-up ads that are relevant to keywords in e-mails both being sent and received.

Read more

 

[Littlebits]

You can log on to your Yahoo account then go to http://info.yahoo.com/privacy/us/yahoo/opt_out/targeting/details.html and click "Opt Out". To make your opt out apply to every computer you use, sign in to your Yahoo! account and choose persistent opt-out.

Thanks.

 

[Ramblin]

Thanks Jack, Littlebits, opt out is on.

Bo

 

[Jack]

You can log on to your Yahoo account then go to http://info.yahoo.com/privacy/us/yahoo/opt_out/targeting/details.html and click "Opt Out". To make your opt out apply to every computer you use, sign in to your Yahoo! account and choose persistent opt-out.

Thanks.

Good to know that their is a work around.
Yahoo also said that "a box will appear 'asking for users' consent'" so if the yahoo users will pay attention to what they are approving a major privacy problem can be avoided.
I for one wouldn't like it if Yahoo starts scanning my personal emails, I don't care if the reason is good or not.
Also I must say that I really don;t like to see advertise in my email service but these days everything works around that so I just hope that they will not make too intrusive.