Yahoo sued for allegedly intercepting users' emails

Yahoo has been sued for intercepting emails sent to users of its mail service and using personal information to earn profit from related advertisements.

The claimant, Brian Pincus, is seeking 5000 dollars in damages for each person whose privacy was allegedly invaded, a complaint filed on November 15 in federal court in San Jose, California revealed.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the filing said that information collected by scanning communications between users and non-users is used for tailoring advertisements to them, thereby increasing Yahoo's revenue.

The complaint said Yahoo's automated systems scan and analyse all incoming and outgoing communications content sent and received from your account, the report said.

The purpose is to 'match and serve targeted advertising and for spam and malware detection'.

Pincus is seeking to represent non-Yahoo customers whose email was intercepted in a class-action, or group lawsuit.