So much for trying to be nice. Yahoo's latest bid to lift itself from the tech also-ran swamp with an email recycling initiative has been criticized for potential security threats to dormant users. To try and calm down the pitchfork-wielding crowd, the company has released a statement describing various security measures that will be taken to insure past users' data and security--but they may not cover all the bases.
Yahoo is releasing inactive Yahoo IDs so that users can score a better email address. This means you can finally have albert@yahoo.com instead of albert9330399@yahoo.com, for example. Sounds great, right? It’s actually a spectacularly bad idea.
In a Tumblr post, the company announced that on July 15, it will be “freeing up” Yahoo email addresses that have been inactive for a year or more. But it’s not just deactivating these accounts, it’s going to offer them to other people.
Yahoo has received between 12,000 to 13,000 requests for user data from law enforcement agencies in the U.S. between Dec. 1 and May 31 this year, the company said Monday.
The most common of these requests concerned fraud, homicides, kidnappings, and other criminal investigations, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer and General Counsel Ron Bell wrote in a blog post.
Yahoo Japan, the country's largest Web portal, said up to 22 million user IDs may have been leaked during a hack that was discovered last week.
The company emphasized that the IDs are already public information, and no passwords or other private data were affected. Yahoo Japan IDs are used along with password to log in to the site, and are often displayed when users leave comments or use its shopping or auction services.
As part of a special media event on Monday, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer unveiled major changes to photo management and sharing service Flickr, with full resolution image support, 1 terabyte of storage for each user, and a revamped user interface.
The announcement, nearly overshadowed by news of Yahoo's $1.1 billion Tumblr acquisition, came during a media event in New York that also highlighted the company's move into a historic Times Square building the New York Times called home for some 90 years.
Yahoo wants to accelerate its development of mobile products geared toward delivery of personalized content, CEO Marissa Mayer said Tuesday, as the company works to stay relevant in a world where smartphones and tablets are becoming dominant.
How Yahoo will accomplish that goal is not immediately clear -- it has yet to announce any specific mobile apps or services it has in the pipeline -- but it was an objective oft-repeated during the company's first-quarter earnings call.
There’s no logical explanation for Yahoo’s reported $30 million acquisition of Summly, an app created by a 17-year-old Brit that launched five months ago. The team and technology are unexceptional and the app itself will be shut down. What Yahoo really gets for its big check is momentum and buzz.
In other words, Yahoo bought Summly to appear cool again.
Is using Yahoo Mail still safe to use? This is a question a lot of users are asking as user accounts have been compromised as early as January. While Yahoo isn’t the only tech company attacked by hackers the ongoing issue that still prevails months after it was first reported is very concerning.
As reported on The Next Web they said that they have seen spikes in Google searches for their stories relating to Yahoo Mail attacks. Yahoo users are also reporting that their accounts are being hacked.
As I write this blog, my three-year-old in the adjoining room is busy playing with dinosaurs. He has my domestic help for company and they are cooking up a story with dinky cars and dinosaur models. In the meantime, I can go check my refrigerator and figure out what the family can have for dinner.
Yahoo, breaking protocol, commented on its remote-working policy change, saying it's just about Yahoo—but is that possible?
Yahoo released a brief response after a change to its remote-working policy, announced to employees in a confidential Feb. 22 email that was leaked to All Things D, started a nationwide debate.
