Well I thought maybe i should bring this article here for all to read as most of us will not open links posted here due to malicious links being posted in the past and all over the internet for that matter, so here is the article in full as far as i can tell!
Yahoo Decided it Would Rather be a Spy Agency then a Second Rate Web Browser
We usually cover the misdeeds and scandals on Wall Street. Although we also report on general corporate corruption, it seems that Wall Street offers a never-ending flow of fun shenanigans to write about.
While technology and internet company executives try to come across as hoodie-wearing nice geeky guys (usually they are mostly guys), it is now looking like they may rival bankers for their questionable ethics and tactics.
Reuters recently broke a story that Yahoo, the seemingly harmless browser, news website, and email provider, harbored a deep dark secret. The internet company secretly built a specifically tailored software program on behalf of U.S. intelligence officials to search and spy on the company’s customers’ incoming emails.
Upon the directive of government agencies, Yahoo scanned hundreds of millions of client email accounts for the National Security Agency and FBI according to Reuters sources.
The acquiescence of Yahoo’s CEO, Marissa Mayer, to the agency’s request to spy on its own customers led to the departure of the company’s Chief Information Security Officer last year. The customized privacy violating software was reportedly done without knowledge of Yahoo’s security team.
Google and Microsoft, the owner of the Bing search engine, both adamantly stated that they did not engage in this type of massive privacy invasion.
The actions of Yahoo are viewed as the first case to arise of a US internet company agreeing to a spy agency’s demand to search all incoming messages on this magnitude.
European customers are not too happy, “any form of mass surveillance infringing on the fundamental privacy rights of EU citizens would be viewed as a matter of considerable concern,” said Ireland’s Data Protection Commissioner.
Privacy advocates are alarmed at the colossal size and scope of the violation of customers’ privacy and Yahoo’s complete bending to the will of U.S. government agencies.
What would happen if a bank or other financial institution conducted such an obvious breach of customer trust? Of course everyone would be up in arms.
Unfortunately, this seems to be just another example of the slow erosion of our rights and privacy.
So much for the nice, geeky internet nerds.