Table of Contents
Introduction To Yah00
Yah00! or Yahoo is a web services search provider. It was founded in 1996 by Jerry Yang and David Filo in January 1994 as “Jerry and David’s Guide to the World Wide Web”. The name Yah00! was derived from the phrase, “Yet Another Hierarchically Organized Oracle”, which the founders envisioned for their new search engine.
Yah00 Location
Yah00! is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, and has offices around the world, including India, England, and Japan. It is among the most visited web site in the world, with an estimated 200 million users a month and over 20 billion pages served to date. Its search engine is presently a free basic service.
How To Access Yah00?
There are various ways to access the Yah00! web site. One may visit the main page at http://www.Yah00.com/, or go directly through one of their services, such as Yah00! Search for searching the web, Yah00! Mail for free e-mail, Yah00! Maps for a complete set of mapping features and more.
The content is arranged in a hierarchy by subject, which can be accessed directly at the left navigation bar on each page. The website, in addition to providing free services, also provides services which are “Powered by Yah00!” and products for sale, such as Yahoo Search Appliance and Directory.
What is Yah00 Search?
Yah00 Search is a web search tool that searches the different types of content at the website along with other affiliated sites to provide results to the user. Common search terms, such as “How to clean a computer”, will provide information on cleaning the computer for the Yah00! Search user. The top results shown by default are ordered and rated according to relevancy by a proprietary formula called the “Yahoo Ranking Algorithm”.
Search Features Of Yah00
There are a large number of features available for the Yahoo Search user through a link on the interface, which is located at the left most of each page and can be accessed at any time. Some of the features include Web, Image, and News search subcategories, a “More Search Options” link to provide additional customization to the search results, and an advanced search feature for more specific queries. In addition, one may select a specific country to search in from the drop-down list located beneath the search box.
Users can also link directly to their Yah00! Web Search account and sign up for an e-mail account. Once this is done, the same personalized results are displayed in the email account’s webmail.
Searching Tips For Yah00
Yahoo! provides a large number of tips on how to search effectively at their website. Some of these tips include making sure that the spelling and proper use of the keywords in the query, checking that there are not too many or no misspellings of words in the query, searching with more general terms before more specific ones, and double-checking to see if some results have been omitted.
When searching for a phrase rather than individual words, Yah0o! recommends placing quotation marks around it. This ensures the correct spelling of the query. Placing a + sign before the phrase, or a “-” sign after it will only search for instances of that exact phrase and not for words in your query which contain those letters (such as in a sort of).
If one places no punctuation at all, Yah00! Search assumes you wish to search for both terms together with no punctuation, so the default search is for “mother of pearl” rather than “mother and pearl”. Not using any punctuation results in an AND query that returns only pages that contain all your terms. Finally, Yah0o! Search can help you identify spelling mistakes by underlining them in red in the autocomplete display.
Additional Search Tools In Yah00
Yah00! Search provides additional search tools through its Yaho0! Directory. The Web Directories category in the Yaho0! The directory contains links to the various web portals and web directories such as the Open Directory Project, United Business Listings, Yahoo! Hot Jobs, and LinkedIn. In addition, the Search Engines category contains a link to the Wikipedia entry for Web search engine.
The directory also allows users to gain access to a number of web search sites through their Search Sites category, such as FindArticles, LookSmart, and FreeFind.
Advanced Search Features In Yah00
Yahoo Search now provides a number of advanced search features. When searching for something on the web, Yah00! Web Search returns only pages that contain all your terms in the order you specify. This is called an AND query.
In many cases, however, you may want to search for pages containing only a few of your terms, or that contain some of them in certain positions and not others. This is called an OR query. The Advanced search page allows users to select the position in which each of their terms should appear on any given page. For example, if one wanted to search for the term “patent leather” in all capital letters and without any spaces, one would select the first option under “Match Position.”
With Advanced Search, users can also create a query that actually contains two queries. This allows you to compare results from different search engines at once. The second query field allows you to enter a search engine’s query. For example, one would place the word “copyright” in Yahoo’s Web Search query field and then go to their advanced search page, entering “copyright site:google.com” as your second query. This way, you return results from both Yah00! Web Search and Google at the same time.
You can also narrow your search to a specific site or domain with the Advanced Search page’s “Search within a Site or Domain” field.
Finally, the Advanced Search page has a text field called “Find Within Results.” When you enter something into this field and press Enter, the original query will be run again for only those pages that contain what you entered in the Find Within Results field. For example, if one put “youtube” into the Find Within Results field and pressed Enter, one would only get results from the Web site YouTube.
How To Upload Images At Yah00
Yah0o Search supports the uploading of images. The user selects the ‘Upload’ tab and is prompted to choose an image to be uploaded via a file dialogue box. The image size can be limited by entering a maximum width or height. Once uploaded, the image will be displayed on the ‘Items’ page in Yaho0 Search. Information about the image can be edited through advanced search. If text is added to the Description field this will appear under the images as the title.
Yaho0 Search now allows users to filter their results by file type allowing them to find MP3s, MP4 files, and more.
RSS Fields In Yah00
Yah00! Search offers a number of RSS feeds through Yahoo! News Web Search and Yah00! Video Web Search. This allows users to receive all the latest news or videos from any given topic in a format that can be read by Yah0o! RSS aggregators, such as Yah00! Pipes or MyYahoo!.
Users may opt-in to receive emails containing suggestions for sites that may interest them based on the topics they prefer.
When a user performs a search, Yahoo! will record the terms used, and if they are subscribed to this feature, will send them emails containing “The Web sites you might be looking for.” The mail may also contain suggested pages that are similar in topic to those found in an initial search. This service is optional and users may edit their list of interests from the Yahoo! Saved Search page or through My Yahoo.
Partnership With Bing and Google
Yah00 Search is partnered with Google Search and Bing, which provides Yah00! Search users with results in a format compatible with their particular search engine. Additionally, the site also offers access to WOT (Web of Trust) ratings from WOT Services B.V., an independent company that scores websites based on user reviews and submissions.
Users may also post reviews on a company or individual website to help guide other Yah00! Search users.
Yahoo! Search is the default search service for MySpace Web Search, Ask Network, and DuckDuckGo.
Criticism On Yah00 Search
Yahoo! Search has been criticized, especially by members of the technological community and news media over issues with privacy, indexing of personal information (such as birth dates and phone numbers), perceived increased difficulty in using it as compared to other web search engines, and non-transparent policies concerning the censorship, removal of documents or results from its search engine without notice.
In March 2009, a Yah00 spokesperson stated that it had “decided to stop scanning links for any personally identifiable information”. Yahoo! has also received criticism for spamming users and their contact lists by inserting hyperlinks into emails.
In April 2010, the advocacy group Consumer Watchdog requested the FTC to investigate Yah00! for privacy violations. Yahoo! The search was singled out because “Yah00’s search engine captures users’ searches and then makes them available to third parties without their permission”. The request included other Internet companies including Google, Microsoft, and AOL.
Consumer Watchdog said the investigation would cover “a widespread practice of sending vast amounts of consumer data to unknown entities through “clear-text” email, in direct violation of numerous privacy laws and industry standards.”
In December 2012, a coalition of 82 advocacy groups sent an open letter to the Federal Trade Commission demanding that the agency toughen its proposed new policy on data brokers, which are companies that collect and sell consumer information, including names, addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses. The coalition objected to a settlement reached between the FTC and nine data brokers that would allow the companies to be subject only to “enhanced notice” requirements regarding consumer opt-out rights. Yahoo! was named as one of the seven worst offenders in the report.
In September 2014, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, San Jose Division issued an order to Yah00 to pay two data breach victims $663.1 million dollars in damages.
In April 2016, lawyers for a Canadian man who was injured in an accident while working at home sued Yah00 seeking to force them to “Do more” regarding his privacy rights. The case is still pending.
The plaintiff is suing Yahoo! for damages of $100 million.
The NOYB project has expressed concerns about the anonymization strategy att Yahoo. The main concern regards a lack of interconnection between datasets which prevents to verify the process and reach certainty that certain data are deleted in cases where users delete their account or when they request so themselves This relies on different processes described as an example:
In order to send messages, Yahoo sends an email to your friends. But the message isn’t just a plain text one like you’re used to: it is encrypted with a secret key that only Yah00 has. This allows Yah00 to be sure that nobody else but your friend can read the message. However, since they encrypt every message by using a new random key, this means that they have to generate and store millions of these keys on their servers and exchange them with all their users millions of times per day for each user’s billions of messages every month.
They are not enough computer power or disk space in the world to keep this data properly protected while enough disk space is required.
The decision was made controversial because the claimed method for protecting privacy uses a secret key that only Yah00 has, thus limiting the government to examining communications from known email addresses and IP addresses. This comment was made:
I am underwhelmed by Yah00’s announcement today. They are doing some things right, but one can’t help but notice that they’re also doing 90% of what they’ve been criticized for in the past year. I see this as a whole lot of nothing—a full year after Snowden hit, we’re having the same conversation about whether we can trust big companies with our data.
In February 2016 The UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) fined Yah00 £250,000 ($375,000 USD) over its highest-profile and potentially most serious breach in 2014 which involved the loss of data on users who visited Yahoo’s now-defunct website, Flickr.com, which included names, email addresses, and passwords.
The ICO found that between 2008 and 2014, a hacker accessed Yahoo’s systems using an ‘advanced SQL vulnerability that could allow sensitive customer information to be extracted from its database; this was later used to facilitate multiple cyberattacks against Yahoo’s network infrastructure between 2012 and 2014.
In June 2016 The Information Commissioner’s Office announced it had reached a settlement with Yah00 over the attack following an investigation into a breach that took place in 2014, involving the theft of details relating to more than 500 million user accounts. The talks between Yah00 and the ICO took around nine months to finalize but ended with a settlement whereby Yah00 agrees to pay £135m ($173m) – one of the largest ever fines handed out by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) – for its failure to protect customers’ personal information.
On September 22, 2016, Yah00 reported “state-sponsored” hackers had stolen data from 500 million of its customer accounts in 2014, making it what appears to be the world’s largest data breach. According to Yah00, an unauthorized third party accessed their company network in late 2014 and stole proprietary code and other content. A cybersecurity firm that was brought in by Yah00 said the hackers were engaging in “state-sponsored espionage,” but did not identify who they believe was responsible. The theft of user data is the second-largest breach to date, and it is unclear if any credit card or banking information was stolen. It’s possible that additional stolen information may be used for future attacks on Yah00 users.
As a result, Verizon Communications contacted Yahoo’s management and proposed either temporarily or permanently reduce the price of Yahoo’s acquisition by US$350 million. In October 2016, Verizon declined to acquire Yahoo and decided to only proceed with its plans to purchase the core internet business of Yah00 for $4.83 billion.
In January 2017, a class-action lawsuit was filed in federal court claiming that “Yah00 failed to adequately safeguard private user data, among other allegations.”
As of December 31, 2016, Alibaba Group is one of Yahoo’s largest shareholders (holding 22% of the shares outstanding). Amazon has been a more recent supporter as well; they had purchased over 37 million shares from November 2016 up until late December 2016. However, these purchases are not new investments – both parties have long-held stakes in Yah00, and this was simply a matter of exercising their options.
On January 4th, 2017 Verizon Communications Inc confirmed it would buy Yah00’s core internet assets for approximately $4.48 billion in cash. The deal includes Yah00’s search, mail, messenger, and other online services; patents; real estate, and some other intellectual property.
Shortly after the sale announcement, a massive security breach at Yah00 was disclosed to have taken place in 2013 (revealed by former Alphabets CEO Marissa Mayer) – 3 Billion user accounts were compromised including names, email addresses, telephone numbers, birth dates as well as unencrypted security questions and answers. The deal is expected to be completed by the end of March, pending a vote by Yahoo’s shareholders.
On February 1st, 2017 Yah00 announced that it had suffered a cyber attack in August 2013 which compromised over 500 million user accounts – significantly larger than the October 2016 hack disclosed of over 1 billion. Yahoo believed that the attack was state-sponsored, although it did not reveal who the culprit was or how exactly they attained this information.
The announcement also revealed that a breach in 2014 resulted in hackers accessing names, telephone numbers, and email addresses of more than one billion users, even though no passwords were stolen in the incident. On February 2nd, 2017, Verizon announced that the cyber thugs responsible for last year’s hack could hurt its bid to buy Yahoo’s internet assets.
On March 1st, 2017 Verizon Communications Inc confirmed that their deal with Yahoo will go ahead as planned; the breach will not have any impact on the final terms of the purchase.
As part of its agreement with Verizon for selling its internet business, Yah00 must pay $350 million to Verizon if it does not follow through and complete the sale by May 23rd, 2017. It also has to pay a further $250 million penalty if it terminates the sale prior to July 31st of this year.
On March 24th, 2017 Verizon officially announced the completion of their $4.48 Billion purchase of Yahoo’s core internet business.
According to the SEC filing, Marissa Mayer has received a severance package worth more than $23 million and she will not receive any bonus for 2016 performance in light of her termination by email on July 17th, 2017.
Yah00’s Core Assets
Yah00’s core assets include its search engine, email service, content sites, and advertising technology platform. Verizon said Yah00 would become part of the company’s media division led by Marni Walden. As of March 24th, 2017, Yah00 was still operating as an independent subsidiary of Verizon Communications Inc.
Yah00’s email service had more than 425 million monthly active users worldwide at the end of 2016; its instant messaging services had approximately 296 million MAU globally as of December 31st, 2016; its mobile published apps included: Tumblr, Flickr, Yah00 News, and Yah00 Sports had approximately 437 million MAU as of December 31st, 2016.
Yah00 Mail service
Mail service – Mail service enables users to send text messages and share photos and videos with family and friends by emailing them via the Yah00 Mail application. Skype provides a similar service by which people can communicate with each other.
Image and video hosting
Image and video hosting – Yahoo provides web services enabling users to upload, share and view photos on Flickr, videos on Yah00 Video, and movies on Yah00 Screen for free.
Yah00 Small Business
Yahoo Small Business is an online platform for small-business owners to manage multiple aspects of their business, including accounting and finances, customer relationship management (CRM), and email services; Yah00 Small Business products are available on a paid basis.