Yahoo! censors Oakland peace group

[Tim Lohrmann <timlohr@yahoo.com>]

Visionaries,
 Here's a "remarkable" bit of info on Yahoo!'s
policies/procedures in dealing with controversial
clients.
  As may or not be clear, the person identifying
himself as "I" is an individual named Steve Merrit,
not myself.
  Hope you find it interesting,
      TL


> Yahoo! censors LMNOP, an Oakland peace group
> 
>   My wife & I have been active in Lake Merritt
> Neighbors Organized for Peace, an Oakland antiwar
> group, since it started during the Gulf War in 1991.
> 
> (For a history of LMNOP & more information about the
> group see <http://www.webwm.com/LMNOP>).
> 
>   Three years ago we got an email address for the
> group, lmno4p@yahoo.com  This seemed like a good way
> to stay in touch with other groups & people.  We
> also
> used it to notify people of upcoming events, & other
> activities.
> 
>   On August 8th, 2002, however, we found that we
> were
> no longer able to access our email address at
> lmno4p@yahoo.com  Email sent to the address was
> returned as "Undeliverable because the account has
> been discontinued or disabled."  We had been
> "deactivated," the Yahoo! computer told us, "because
> of a violation of the terms of service agreement."  
> 
>   I downloaded the Yahoo! terms of service agreement
> &
> read it again:  There was absolutely nothing I could
> find that we had done that would constitute a
> violation of the agreement.  
> 
>   Emailed & snail-mailed inquiries to Yahoo! were
> simply ignored.  Yahoo!'s attitude appeared to be in
> keeping with their terms of service agreement:  They
> will provide you with an email address, but they
> will
> also block you from using it & delete everything you
> might have stored in it whenever they feel like it,
> for any reason or no reason at all, & there is
> nothing
> you can do about it.  Ignoring our inquiries simply
> underscored these arrogant policies.
> 
>   My wife, Beth, telephoned Yahoo! at (408)349-3300
> earlier this week, & again yesterday.  Her
> conversations with four different people there were
> most revealing, even if we are still barred from
> getting into our account.
> 
>   Earlier in the week Beth spoke with Laurie. 
> Laurie
> is a supervisor in the Yahoo! Customer Care unit. 
> Laurie told Beth that Yahoo! did not have to tell
> her
> what the alleged terms of service violation was, nor
> would they.  She also said that the decision to shut
> down an account is made by a human, not the
> computer,
> so someone had pulled the plug - but there was
> nothing
> we could do about it.  Laurie also said that it is
> "their policy" not to give their last names. 
>  
>   Yesterday Beth talked with three different people
> at
> Yahoo!  The 1st was a woman in Customer Care who
> transferred her call to Public Relations.  The guy
> in 
> Public Relations (Brian) said that his department
> only
> deals with the media, so basically there was really
> no
> reason to talk with him at all.  Brian wasn't sure
> why
> the Customer Care person had transferred her to him,
> &
> he transferred Beth to Pablo, a supervisor in
> Customer
> Care.
> 
>   Pablo assured Beth that lmno4p@yahoo.com had not
> been
> shut-down for political reasons, but he also said
> that
> it is "their policy" not to say what the actual
> reason
> was - &, most important, he said that a decision to
> shut down an account is not made "unless a complaint
> has been made."  This confirms our suspicion that
> the
> LMNOP account WAS shut down for political reasons -
> There was no violation of the "terms of agreement"
> by
> us, & Yahoo! refuses to say what the alleged
> violation
> was, because there was none.
> 
>   We don't think that Yahoo! pulled our plug because
> they think we're some sort of threat to civilization
> as we know it.  We think Yahoo! overreacted to a
> complaint by someone who disagrees with our
> politics,
> especially our public support for peace & justice in
> Palestine.  Yahoo! figured that we are simply an
> obscure local group in Oakland, so they could treat
> us
> anyway they wanted to.  Now that we are demanding
> answers & questioning their draconian "terms of
> service agreement" Yahoo! is stubbornly sticking to
> "their policies" - i.e., once they've shut you down
> there is no recourse, & they will not reinstate your
> account, nor even let you rescue any information
> that
> was stored there.  
> 
>   Our email list was stored in the lmno4p@yahoo.com
> account, & we had messages that we had not yet
> answered before Yahoo! pulled our plug.  We have
> learned the hard way to never store anything in a
> Yahoo! account that you are not ready to have some
> misguided bureaucrat or political zealot delete.
> 
>   I know these are troubled times, & the problems of
> one small peace group in Oakland are miniscule
> compared to what is going on in the rest of the
> world.
>  But it bothers me to think that a company like
> Yahoo!
> can sabotage our work in such a heavy-handed way
> with
> no recourse whatsoever.
> 
>   I tell you all this for three reasons:  1). To
> warn
> you to be careful when you deal with Yahoo!; 2). To
> ask if anyone has any ideas how we might bring
> Yahoo!
> to account for their reckless political sabotage; &
> 3). To see if anyone else has had similar
> experiences
> with Yahoo! or any of the other email service
> providers.    
> 
> - Steve Wagner, Lake Merritt Neighbors Organized
> for Peace, (510) 763-8712. 
> http://www.webwm.com/LMNOP


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