Skip to main content

Yahoo faces huge class-action lawsuit over email spying

Collecting information for targeted advertising is nothing new, but some tech companies go too far, at least, that’s what a class-action lawsuit against Yahoo alleges. Recently, U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh officially ruled that Yahoo must stand against a nationwide class-action lawsuit, which claims that the company was cataloging information in intercepted emails sent from non-Yahoo accounts to Yahoo emails. All this was allegedly done in the name of generating advertising revenue.

The ruling for the class-action suit encompasses any Yahoo users who have been with the service since Oct. 2, 2012. Their right to sue falls under the Federal Stored Communications Act. Additionally, it seems a group of non-Yahoo subscribers may join the suit under the Invasion of Privacy action in the State of California.

Recommended Videos

Yahoo is accused of collecting this information from possibly all of its 275 million subscribers. Yahoo presumably collected that info in the same automatic process it uses to scan for spam and malware. Yahoo purportedly snooped through emails and their attachments, as well as searched for keywords that would help with advertising. The motivation for this behavior is clear, as Yahoo generated 79 percent of its yearly revenue in 2014 from search and display advertising.

According to the plaintiffs for this case, the group of non-Yahoo subscribers involved in the suit could be as many as one million members. A class-action lawsuit of this magnitude could aid in achieving higher damages and more sweeping changes at a lower cost, than pursuing individual civil action.

“Yahoo may have to, as a practical matter, adjust its scanning practices on an individual basis,” wrote Koh in the ruling she handed down, according to Reuters. “That does not, however, change the fact that plaintiffs seek uniform relief from a common policy that Yahoo applies to all class members.”

Koh said that the reason why she allowed this lawsuit to continue, and not the one against Google’s Gmail, is because it wasn’t clear which Gmail and regular email users agreed to Google’s policies and which did not.

We’ll keep you updated, as the case develops.

Andre Revilla
Andre Revilla is an entrepreneur and writer based in Chicago that has been covering and working in the consumer tech space…
How to change margins in Google Docs
Laptop Working from Home

When you create a document in Google Docs, you may need to adjust the space between the edge of the page and the content -- the margins. For instance, many professors have requirements for the margin sizes you must use for college papers.

You can easily change the left, right, top, and bottom margins in Google Docs and have a few different ways to do it.

Read more
What is Microsoft Teams? How to use the collaboration app
A close-up of someone using Microsoft Teams on a laptop for a videoconference.

Online team collaboration is the new norm as companies spread their workforce across the globe. Gone are the days of primarily relying on group emails, as teams can now work together in real time using an instant chat-style interface, no matter where they are.

Using Microsoft Teams affords video conferencing, real-time discussions, document sharing and editing, and more for companies and corporations. It's one of many collaboration tools designed to bring company workers together in an online space. It’s not designed for communicating with family and friends, but for colleagues and clients.

Read more
Microsoft Word vs. Google Docs
A person using a laptop that displays various Microsoft Office apps.

For the last few decades, Microsoft Word has been the de facto standard for word processors across the working world. That's finally starting to shift, and it looks like one of Google's productivity apps is the heir apparent. The company's Google Docs solution (or to be specific, the integrated word processor) is cross-platform and interoperable, automatically syncs, is easily shareable, and perhaps best of all, is free.

However, using Google Docs proves it still has a long way to go before it can match all of Word's features -- Microsoft has been developing its word processor for over 30 years, after all, and millions still use Microsoft Word. Will Google Docs' low barrier to entry and cross-platform functionality win out? Let's break down each word processor in terms of features and capabilities to help you determine which is best for your needs.
How does each word processing program compare?
To put it lightly, Microsoft Word has an incredible advantage over Google Docs in terms of raw technical capability. From relatively humble beginnings in the 1980s, Microsoft has added new tools and options in each successive version. Most of the essential editing tools are available in Google Docs, but users who are used to Word will find it limited.

Read more