Yahoo's price list for spying on its users leaks

Filed under: Internet, Security, Yahoo!

Bet ya didn't know this: when the Feds want some information from Yahoo, or most likely any online service provider, they have to pay for it! Yahoo actually have a price list for services rendered. Want some basic records? Twenty dollah. Contents of a user's email account? Ooh, that'll set you back $30 or $40, but Yahoo will love you looong time.

There's even an incentive to buy the details of more than one user -- the first one only costs $20, but $10 for any extras. Now that's what I call value-added federal douchebaggery, Yahoo! (That was really an exclamation at the end of the sentence, if it's not clear from the context.)

Sadly, this is the kind of thing that goes on all over the place but is never reported because it's so darn secret. As an online service provider, or ISP, you just hope beyond all else, that such 'law enforcement compliance guides' never reach the eyes of the users. Unfortunately for Yahoo, they have: someone leaked the 'spy' booklet and submitted it to Cryptome, a site which collects sensitive and whistle-blower-esque documents. Not only does it contain a price list, it also details their data retention policies. I shan't link it here, but it's very easy to find if you visit the Cryptome website.

Poor Yahoo though, really. You can guarantee that other big companies charge law enforcement agencies for the interrogation of their records. And hey, at least with Yahoo you can now opt out of targeted ads...thank God for that.

[via Wired]

Yahoo's price list for spying on its users leaks originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 08 Dec 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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