Compliance Management, Privacy

Yahoo $4M settlement in email privacy case will go to lawyers

Yahoo Inc. has agreed to pay up to $4 million in fees to settle a class-action lawsuit filed, but the lawyers, not the plaintiffs will get the pay-out.

The suit was brought by non-customers opposed to the company's analysis of subscribers' ingoing and outgoing emails for the purpose of delivering targeted ads. But plaintiffs won't see any compensation, as it will all go to their counsel at Girard Gibbs and Kaplan Fox & Kilsheimer, pending judiciary approval, according to a report in The Recorder.

The plaintiffs argued in court that Yahoo violated their privacy because they never consented to having their emails analyzed. Yahoo has agreed to change its privacy disclosures and alter its operations so the analysis of files only happens after landing in a recipient's inbox, rather than before. What remains unclear is how the changes allay the original concerns of the plaintiffs.

Bradley Barth

As director of community content at CyberRisk Alliance, Bradley Barth develops content for SC Media online conferences and events, as well as video/multimedia projects. For nearly six years, he wrote and reported for SC Media as deputy editor and, before that, senior reporter. He was previously a program executive with the tech-focused PR firm Voxus. Past journalistic experience includes stints as business editor at Executive Technology, a staff writer at New York Sportscene and a freelance journalist covering travel and entertainment. In his spare time, Bradley also writes screenplays.

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