The hits just keep coming for Yahoo. I don’t mean chart toppers either. First, they compromised hundreds of millions of emails. But a far more disturbing accusations arises. Did Yahoo sell customers out to the government?
According to credible news sources like Reuters, Yahoo created software to search customers’ emails. The searches were for US intelligence agencies. Under US government orders, Yahoo scanned hundred of millions of emails. The scan was for the NSA, FBI, and other agencies. This testimony comes from three former Yahoo employees. We don’t know what these agencies looked for. But the former employees said this agreement caused the resignation of major Yahoo players.
One such player was former Chief Information Security Officer Alex Stamos. Stamos resigned in June 2015. He’s now a security leader for Facebook. In a statement, a Yahoo spokesperson said,?”Yahoo is a law abiding company, and complies with the laws of the United States”. They didn’t confess to the allegations. They don’t deny them, either. Alex Stamos has no comment. Neither does any NSA official. But attorneys for the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union), expressed disappointment. They wish Yahoo did more to challenge the government’s orders.
And quite frankly, so do I. Let’s not jump to conclusions. These allegations could be false. Two disgruntal former employees could be blowing off steam. So why talk about it? Because these allegations could be true. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were. What if they are? Then this is a devastating blow to Yahoo, again. The company recovers from a major hack. The company is being bought out. The American public has little trust in government agencies, especially agencies like the NSA. Now we learn about Yahoo’s possible cooperation with them? This is not good for Yahoo. Not good at all. What do you think? Are these false allegations? Or did Yahoo sell customers out to the government?