Who's on Yahoo?

A lawsuit seeking to identify roughly 100 Yahoo users that allegedly posted defamatory statements about a public company has Yahoo rethinking their policies. Now, Yahoo will require confirmation and attempt to authenticate users' email addresses. Yahoo will send an email message to the intended user and require that they confirm their identity and account information with a return email, prior to gaining access to portals. \n Earlier this month (September 1998), ITEX, sued 100 or so "John Does" for posting messages on a Yahoo Finance board. The messages criticized the Portland firm. One post referred to ITEX's management as "blind, stupid and incompetent". ITEX, which operates an online trade center designed to allow users to buy products and services with cash or barter, claims the statements were false and damaging to the company. ITEX filed suit to track down the 100 anonymous Yahoo Finance message board users. \n Yahoo's policy is and has been, that Yahoo will not divulge a message board user's registration unless served with a court order. The only data that Yahoo had on file that could lead back to their users was the user's email addresses. Until the policy change, users only volunteered their account information. Often users forge the information they supply to Yahoo and other online sites. Yahoo claims they are making portal policy changes so that they can deny access to someone who is abusive. Privacy experts are concerned about online services being forced to hand over chat room or message board users' identities. Privacy advocates say this hinders free and anonymous online speech. \n Yahoo claims that they will still not hand over any users' information without court order, noting no change in Yahoo's policy regarding protecting user's identities. Yahoo also states that the information they must hand over will probably be more accurate, making users easier to locate under the new method of operation.