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Yahoo! users are being warned that a change to its terms and conditions means their emails are to be scanned in order to target advertising.
“People should have the right to send messages without Yahoo! snooping through them,” said Sarah Kidner, the editor of Which? Computing.
Since June Yahoo! has been moving customers to a new system that will trawl through incoming and outgoing emails for keywords to which relevant advertising is matched and displayed against. It hopes users will click more as a result.
Google has long used a similar system to deliver advertising to Gmail users. Yahoo! is now following suit and has defended itself by emphasising it is asking users for their permission.
“We think transparency is key because our business depends almost entirely on the trust of our users,” a spokesman told PC Advisor.
We therefore ask users (via a pop-up notice) for consent to the extension of machine-scanning inbound and outbound emails to look for keywords and links to further protect you from spam, surface photos and in time, serve users with interest-based advertising.”
The firm said those who do not give their consent will be allowed to continue to use the old Yahoo! Mail system.
The Information Commissioner’s Office said the changes were allowed as long as users were kept informed.
“We’ve spoken to Yahoo about their email scanning feature. As with any business or organisation that changes the way its customer data is used, Yahoo has an obligation to be upfront with their users to make sure their information is being processed fairly,” a spokesman said.
Microsoft’s competing Windows Live webmail service does not scan the contents of emails.
Dhruv
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