On the heels of Facebook’s massive missteps resulting in a breach of trust and howling protest from their users about privacy issues, comes Yahoo Updates.
Hoping to capitalize on the popularity of the ubiquitous Facebook feed, Twitter stream and Google buzz, Yahoo now plans to leverage the contacts in your Yahoo Mail address book. Contacts that were methodically built up over years of loyal patronage.
I’ve been a Yahoo user for over a decade and have a few email accounts with over 1,000 contacts and don’t want to jeopardize or infringe on those relationship, even inadvertently. Yahoo does exactly that by requiring that users opt out from their social networking platform, Yahoo Updates, instead of giving us the option to opt in. So, not only will every contact in your Yahoo Mail address book automatically see your Updates, but so will everyone that has you as a contact in their address book. Not cool.
Yahoo Updates is a stream of your activity, based largely on public content you’ve created on Yahoo!. It will include things like comments on message boards, songs you’ve rated, movies you’ve reviewed, articles you’ve Buzzed, photos you’ve uploaded in Flickr, questions you’ve asked or answered on Yahoo! Answers and other similar activities. And coming soon will be the ability to share Updates with friends on Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks
Sounds okay so far, though I’m not sure I need yet another time-suck social networking tool that tracks and reports my every move. But until I’m sure that this is a platform I wish to engage, I’d like to be able to observe and sign up or opt in whenever I choose. Instead, Yahoo has chosen for me.
Instead of giving me the choice to opt in if I wish to go public with everyone in my Yahoo email address book, I have to opt out. Has Yahoo learned nothing from the Facebook fiasco? Until I know more about this platform, I have chosen opt out. Here’s how I did it.
Opting Out of Yahoo Updates
Sign in to your Yahoo account then go to: http://profiles.yahoo.com/settings/updates/
Uncheck “Share My Updates”, click “OK” to confirm and save.
That was quick and easy. You’re now opted out of the new Yahoo Updates social networking program. But that’s not all. Next up is opting out of sharing authorized by your friends.
Go to http://profiles.yahoo.com/settings/permissions
Uncheck “Allow my connections” and click on “Save”. Next, click on “Hide My Profile” and a dialog box will appear. Click on “Hide My Profile”, and you will get the following confirmation:
That’s it! Finally.
Yahoo Updates may be the next big thing –or not — but until then, somewhat wiser after the Facebook and other privacy breaches, I’ll observe, stay on the sidelines for a bit, and opt in when I’m ready.
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And let’s not forgetting Google Buzz too.
I really felt for whoever is not that savvy in IT who just using email solely for private conversations with closed ones; they wouldn’t have known about all these privacy issues until it’s too late. I agree, we should always given a choice to opt-in but not forced into one. Sigh.. it’s kinda sad to see every big names are trying to follow the trend without concerning individual needs. Thank you so much for these easy instructions, I’m sharing this in FB page for sure!
@wchingya
Social/Blogging Tracker
Thanks for sharing the word about this, Ching Ya, and adding your insight re: Google Buzz. It’s precisely the reason I’ve kept away from Buzz. It’ll be interesting to see how these issues resolve themselves over time. Kinda makes having a blog where we own and have control over our information so much more important!
Wow, I hate it when websites make privacy-changing decisions without asking us (individually) what we’d like.
And I really REALLY hate it when they do it without even TELLING us what they did!
Thanks for letting us know about this. BTW: After going to the second URL I had to click on “Manage Privacy Settings” to get the second screen of settings, and mine didn’t look exactly like the screen shot – perhaps the UK page is different to the US one? It worked, anyway.
@rickybuchanan
Hi Ricky, thanks for stopping by! Couldn’t agree with you more. It’s deceitful and just plain wrong for these companies that we’ve patronized for many years to do this.
And, though I’m concerned with my own privacy, it’s the way they involve those of my friends and contacts that especially troubles me.
Sadly, this seems like a trend. Guess we just have to be more aware.
Thank you, this was very helpful!
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