Yahoo! Mail user Albert Rudgayzer sued the Silicon Valley web portal yesterday, charging that Yahoo’s revelation of users first and last names when they send email violates the portal’s own Terms of Service (‘TOS’), constituting a breach of contract. He seeks relief under federal and California state law.
Rudgayzer, a New York lawyer, alleges that he began using Yahoo email around October 2011. He filed the lawsuit in a pro se capacity in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California (read the lawsuit below).
His complaint contends that Yahoo’s TOS promises users, in part, that:
Yahoo! does not rent, sell, or share personal information about you with other people or non-affiliated companies except to provide products or services you’ve requested, when we have your permission.”
By revealing his email address to recipients of his Yahoo email, Rudgayzer charges, “Yahoo has breached the Personal Information Provision of its contracts,” constituting a breach of contract under California law.
The complaint also alleges that more than 5 million people and entities have email accounts with Yahoo, making them members of the proposed class.
You can browse the case docket here, and read the class-action lawsuit against Yahoo alleging violations of its privacy promise in the company’s TOS below.
What do you think about the merits of this lawsuit?
