Lew, The deals Yahoo! and MS are willing to make to do business in corrupt and non-democratic countries are SOP in the business world. It seems to me that these powerful Internet business could break the mold and apply some leverage towards improving human rights. Are they going to have to explain themselves in the court of world opinion like Germain companies who used slaves and tolerated the Nazi abuses? Wait until a few zillion Chinese ask for reparations! AZ Build a Lookaround! The Lookaround Book, 4Th ed. Now an E-book. http://www.panoramacamera.us > -------- Original Message -------- > Subject: Re: Are you a Yahoo! group member? > From: Lew <lew1716@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> > Date: Wed, January 25, 2006 1:33 pm > To: List for Photo/Imaging Educators - Professionals - Students > <photoforum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> > > It's actually somewhat worse than Robert suggests. They've been using > beacons for quite a while. Read the fine print when you sign up and google > the Yahoo privacy statement. You must also agree to allow Yahoo to share the > information they garner about you with its business associates, and there's > no stipulation as to how that information is shared. For instance, do they > deliver lists of the web sites you've visited to their partners or do they > allow their partners to place their own 'beacons' on your machine? Pay > special attention to their opt-out policy. After you initially opt-in, > opting out only lasts until you *receive* another Yahoo originated email, > then, as per your initial agreement, you've opted-back in again. Further > more, opting out seems to be ip address specific, not machine specific. For > example, you can 'opt-out' whether you've logged into your Yahoo acct or > not. > If you can stand more bad news, google yahoo & law suits or their > agreements with the Chinese gov't (& ours too, probably). Yahoo is involved > with firings, imprisonments, and some reported deaths. > Finally, reflect on how this huge, profitable internet goliath maintains > itself with so little direct advertising, and its 'sucks we're just folks > like you' demeanor. > -Lew
