Boston, MA 09/12/2014 (wallstreetpr) – Inability of Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) to comply by the Government of U.S. regarding Internet data of users, might land it in a costly trouble. As per the recently released documents by the company itself, if Yahoo does not abide by the U.S. government requests, it might need to empty millions of dollars of fine every day.
Yahoo Challenging U.S. Spying
Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) legally challenged U.S. spying and what may seem to be a little hope of victory, the court allowed the company to unveil its 1500-pages long redacted documents depicting force and scope of surveillance methods of the Government. In one of the documents, it was shown that Yahoo was threatened in 2008 to pay a fine of $250,000 per day, in case it did not turn over the users’ data.
The scope of spying of U.S. agencies was debated in the year 2013, when Edward Snowden challenged Prism electronic inspection program of the National Security Agency without knowledge of the masses.
Background of the Case
Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO)’s case is deeply rooted into amendment of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which enables the Government to seek user information without even any warrant, through these online services.
The battle started in the year 2007 when Yahoo refused to abide by the foreign surveillance demand of the Government without warrant. The 10-month conflict took place in Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court and later transported to a panel which reviews secret court’s rulings.
Various other companies like Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB), Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) were also asked for the user data, which they gave. Yahoo was the only company which fought against Government’s demand.
Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO)’s general counsel, Ron Bell, in this regard said that the company did not give in to the Government’s demand and fought at every step because it sees it as overboard and unconstitutional surveillance.
Federal Response
The National Intelligence Director, Michael McConnell also filed a statement with court in defense of NSA, saying that refusal of company to abide by the law will jeopardize the national security. It must be noted that almost all senior administration personnel and most importantly, President Barack Obama have also stood in favour of Prism spy program. The U.S., at present also coerces Web companies to share users’ data.
