Disable Yahoo Espionage
“Your privacy are belong to us”
Yes, evidently, Yahoo believes that your privacy belongs to them.
If you Yahoo, then it is likely that Yahoo is tracking your every move anywhere and everywhere on the Internet. They do this through a kind of super-cookie called a Web Beacon. With this they are probably able to obtain specific user identifiable information on all your surfing anywhere on the Internet.
Now, Yahoo claims that they do not sell or share user identifiable information with others. (Isn’t that nice of them. ) But it is most likely that they know exactly who you are, and use it internally, at will.
You may review Yahoo’s privacy policy HERE
Please note that it starts with the following phrase:
“Yahoo! takes your privacy seriously.”
What a bunch of bull ****. Translated, this means: “Your privacy makes us serious money.”
In all fairness, Yahoo is not alone in this belief, nor is it alone in this practice. For instance, AOL evidently believes that everything you do or write on their system belongs to them, and recently was forced by public pressure to a slight retraction.
And in all fairness, Yahoo at least provides a way for you to opt-out of their tracking ring. (We seriously doubt that opting out does any more than temporarily stop their ongoing data collection, and we seriously doubt that they would ever be so kind as to delete all the data that they have already collected.)
If you have ever signed up for a Yahoo email address, or for any Yahoo group, or any other Yahoo service, then this most likely applies to you. If you have never signed up for any Yahoo service, then this probably does not apply to you.
The following link will allow you to automatically and instantly opt out of Yahoo’s Web Beacon tracking ring:
http://pclick.yahoo.com/p?optout
Please note: You will have to do this for every computer, and every browser that you have used to “Yahoo”.
For more information, check out this article by Aunty Spam: http://www.aunty-spam.com/yahoo-using-web-beacons-to-track-users-across-the-web/
Disclosure: In all fairness, most all web sites log access to their sites, and so do we. We also set a cookie in your computer that helps us to know if you are a return visitor or a new visitor. Our cookie is clearly identified with our web site name, and it is up to you if you want to delete it. Our web counter is a little more accurate if it can tell if you are a return visitor, or a new one. This data is anonymous and confidential and we aim to keep it that way.
Prediction: In a week or two, there will be a phishing email that will attempt to induce you to log-in to Yahoo in order to change your privacy settings. Don’t bite.
