Why You Should Care About Yahoo Secretly Scanning Emails

Many computer users shrugged upon hearing reports that Yahoo had developed software for the US government to scan users’ incoming emails. Yahoo’s security staff did not even know about the program. Anyone who relies on a computer should care about all data breaches, argues Amelia Tait for the New Statesman. Other tech companies could be secretly offering similar services. Former employees exposed the program but did not know what information the government was pursuing. “While Google, Facebook et al all claim they would refuse the specific request of building software to scan incoming messages, the lack of end-to-end encryption means many can and do hand over your messages to the authorities when asked,” Tait writes. “The problem with backdoor systems like Yahoo’s is that hackers can also potentially gain access, and the same is true for messages that don’t have E2EE and are thus stored on companies’ servers.” Tait urges computer users to make privacy a priority. Tech companies, observing the widespread apathy to the reports of surveillance software, may be less inclined to invest in security. – YaleGlobal