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Monday, March 18, 2024 | Back issues
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Class Suing Yahoo Need not Go Before 9th Circuit

SAN JOSE, Calif. (CN) - The Ninth Circuit refused to intervene in an advancing class action that says Yahoo scans emails to target nonsubscribers with advertisements.

Judge Andrew Hurtwitz and Senior Judge Michael Hawkins issued the one-page order Tuesday, rejecting Yahoo's motion to appeal the grant of class certification.

Four people who do not use Yahoo but sent emails to people who do brought the lawsuit at issue in 2013, accusing Yahoo of violating state and federal wiretap and privacy laws by scanning their emails and using the information to send targeted advertising.

Yahoo argued that consent to email scanning is part of its crystal-clear terms of service, and that subscribers are the ones who must warn nonsubscribers that emails will be scanned, collected and analyzed for advertising purposes.

U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh previously sheared off most of the class's initial claims, allowing only a single alleged violation of the federal Stored Communications Act and a claim under the California Invasion of Privacy Act to advance.

She certified a nationwide class on the federal claim this May, designating the class as including all nonsubscribers living in the United States who have sent at least one email to a Yahoo subscriber since Oct. 2, 2011.

Though Koh declined nationwide class certification on the California privacy claim, citing differences among the other 49 states' privacy laws, she did certify a subclass consisting of only California residents.

Counsel for both parties could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday.

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