Less than a fortnight after Yahoo said that hackers stole personal data from nearly 500 million of its users, the tech giant has courted another controversy over allegations that it secretly scanned all of its users’ email accounts on behalf of the US government.
Reportedly, the company built special software last year to comply with a classified govt request, leading to the exit of its then Chief Information Security Officer Alex Stamos, citing ethical concerns about the surveillance program.
It is unclear, what information the US govt demanded Yahoo to search for, or what data it might have handed over, but the company has defended its move, saying that, “Yahoo is a law-abiding company, and complies with the laws of the United States.”
