Today is International Data Privacy Day so it’s a good time to take a few minutes to think about how you protect your information online.

As a mother of three children and a Yahoo who works every day to help protect your privacy on our network, I’d like to offer some simple suggestions for exercising your privacy options:

• The Internet never forgets. Don’t put anything online that you wouldn’t want your kids/future boss/mom/teacher to see today, next week or next year. Online content is easily distributed, and once it is “out there,” it’s difficult to ever pull it back completely. So think twice before you post content online and make sure you protect your online reputation.
• Be aware of your privacy options – and take control. Many companies now offer a variety of online privacy options to put you in control. You can opt-out of receiving marketing email from Yahoo! or opt-out of receiving interest-based advertising. Also, many browsers have privacy features that let you control your cookies and privacy settings.
• Stay educated. Cyberbullies, viruses, inappropriate content – the Web is wonderful but it has its warts. Do your homework regularly and read up on how to keep yourself and your kids safe online. For example, check out our recently revamped Yahoo! Safely site, featuring tips and videos for teens and a parents’ guide with regular blogs from some of the top online safety experts in the country.
• Choose your friends wisely. Social networking is a great way to share updates about what you are doing, good deals, and interesting stories. But make sure that you’re connecting with people you know. And take a look around the site to make sure you have carefully selected the privacy options that work best for you. For example, on your Yahoo! profile, you can make your profile private, viewable to your connections, or viewable to everyone. And on Messenger, you choose to be “invisible” to some people on your Friends list and not others.
• Share information with sites you trust. Read privacy policies (there should be a link on the front page!) and look for trust marks from certifying organizations like the Council of Better Business Bureaus or TRUSTe before you hand over personal or financial information to sites you don’t know.

Earning your trust is something we think about every day at Yahoo!, and we build that priority into our products and our policies. Yahoo! recently announced a significant change in how we retain the information related to your use of Yahoo! sites, setting an industry-leading approach to user data privacy. The New York Times said that it was “…an encouraging development for the cause of Internet privacy.”

We’ll continue to work for your privacy and hope you’ll take a moment today to learn how to better protect yourself and your family online.

Anne Toth
VP for Policy and Head of Privacy

As we’ve said before, no one ever wins the Yahoo! Lottery. And that’s simply because there is no Yahoo! Lottery. To protect you from these scammers, we’re going after them ourselves.

We recently filed a lawsuit that ought to send an unmistakable message to spammers masquerading as Yahoo! lottery commissioners, sending emails to unsuspecting users about having won a mythical jackpot. And in order to claim that jackpot, these “lucky” users simply need to hand over personal data like passwords, credit card information, and social security numbers. Some “winners” are even duped into sending money for processing and mailing charges.

We won’t tolerate these hoax emails or having our brand used to deceive you, and we’re seeking maximum damages permissible by law. This lawsuit (one of nearly ten suits to date) is part of a multi-faceted approach we’ve been taking to combat spam by supporting anti-spam legislation, creating technologies like DomainKeys, collaborating with industry leaders, and increasing consumer awareness. Consider this: every day, we block more than one billion spam and phishing messages — that’s more that four times the number of first class letters the US Postal Service delivers each day.

Besides what we’re doing on our end, here are some of the things you can do to protect yourself:

• Protect your email address like your phone number: Give it out selectively and only to people you trust. Don’t post it in public places like message boards or chat rooms. And try disposable email addresses (like our AddressGuard) for things like shopping or selling things online.
• Just say no to junk mail: Report unsolicited email by clicking on the spam button in the toolbar at the top of your inbox or message. This reports the contents so that Yahoo! Mail or your service provider can take appropriate action and potentially block them from reaching your inbox in the future.
• If it’s too good to be true, it probably is: Don’t be fooled by cash prizes or that prince who needs your help smuggling millions of dollars out of his country. They’re scams. Don’t reply, don’t click, and don’t give away any personal information.
• That’s no warning: See a pop-up ad with a warning about your computer? Or have an email from a “computer expert” warning you of a virus? They’re usually hoaxes from unscrupulous folks. Ignore them and don’t follow any steps described unless you’re sure the threat is real.
• Create a sign-in seal: Sign-in seals are a new safeguard offered by Yahoo! and many financial institutions to help protect your login. A sign-in seal is a secret message or image that you create so you can be sure you’re logging into your account and not a phishing site. To create your seal, go to any sign-in page across Yahoo! and look for the box with keys above your login.

You can find more tips on our anti-spam resource site. It’s a jungle out there, but there are plenty of ways to defend your inbox. Plus we’ve got your back.

Mark Risher
Anti-Spam Czar, Yahoo! Mail