Yahoo scanned all of its users’ incoming emails on behalf of U.S. intelligence officials

By Andrea Peterson October 4 at 6:03 PM, WashPost

Yahoo in April of last year began secretly scanning the incoming emails of its hundreds of millions of users to comply with an order from the U.S. intelligence community, a move that prompted at least two company officials to leave, according to a former Yahoo employee familiar with the matter.

The company’s decision not to fight the order from intelligence officials caused Yahoo’s then-chief information security officer Alex Stamos to resign last year -- and at least one other security staffer left the company -- due to ethical concerns about the surveillance program, according to the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the matter was confidential. Reuters, citing unnamed former employees, first reported the news Tuesday.

The government's demand to scan email in real time alarmed privacy advocates, as did Yahoo's compliance with such a broad order. Patrick Toomey, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, called the order "unprecedented and unconstitutional."

(More here.)