YAHOO SQUEALS!

YAHOO HAS BEEN READING YOUR EMAILS ON BEHALF OF THE GOVERNMENT

IT HAS EMERGED that Yahoo, at the request of the National Security Agency and the FBI, has scanned emails for specific sets of characters. The “secret” project started last year, and has already scanned hundreds of millions of emails, although there’s no news on whether anything has actually been handed over. There has been little from Yahoo on the subject, apart from the bland response that “Yahoo is a law-abiding company and complies with the laws of the United States.” The NSA was equally tight-lipped—it does not comment on “specific techniques.”

The scanning is unusual because of its all-encompassing nature. Previously, efforts concentrated on specific suspects. The Electronic Frontier Foundation claims it “flies in the face of the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition against unreasonable searches.” Senator Ron Wyden, a frequent critic of government surveillance, said: “Federal law is being interpreted in ways that many Americans would find surprising and troubling.” Quite.