Did the US Government Pressured Yahoo To Scan Emails? Microsoft, Google, And Facebook Distance From Issue

Well, this is not the kind of news that you might want to see at daybreak. But according to reports, Yahoo is now under the lens after former employees revealed that custom software was designed by Yahoo to facilitate scanning of all incoming emails by the intelligence agencies in the US.

The allegations first surfaced in a Reuters report and raised questions on the legality and constitutional powers of this kind of dragnet surveillance that compelled Yahoo to comply and scan emails. The request came from a classified department to yahoo's legal team.

Understandably, most of the other tech companies such as Google, Microsoft have been quick to distance themselves from the allegation and stated that unlike Yahoo they never received similar requests  from any government authority to scan emails.

Twitter affirmed that it has not received any requests to scan emails and if there be one in the future, it would be challenged in the court. Twitter is already suing the Justice Department with regard to disclosure of information in response to government requests. The lawsuit filed by Twitter is currently ongoing.

According to a spokesman from Microsoft, a separate suit has been filed by Microsoft against the DOJ seeking improved transparency in requests from the government to access user data. Apple too faced a similar request from the FBI to create custom software for unlocking an iPhone in connection with San Bernardino shooting. However, Apple was successful in fighting the case out in the Court.

While Facebook too stated that they have never received a request of this type from the government, Yahoo was noncommittal in its response.  "Yahoo is a law-abiding company, and complies with the laws of the United States," a Yahoo spokesperson told TechCrunch.

Congressman Ted Lieu said in a statement. "If true, the government's directive to Yahoo to write a software program and search all of its customers' incoming emails for certain content is a gross abuse of federal power."

While most tech companies do publish a transparency report at periodic intervals, for the common man, the Yahoo incident does cast doubts on the vulnerability of the internet and the ability of smart coders to interfere with his privacy.

Although it is not clear what information Yahoo was asked to provide or if requests were made to any other companies to scan emails as done by Yahoo.