Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer / AP
Yahoo covertly developed a software program last year that provided U.S. intelligence officials with access to all of its customers’ incoming emails, Reuters reported Tuesday.
The company complied with a classified government directive that allowed the National Security Agency and FBI to scan through hundreds of millions of Yahoo Mail accounts, according to two former employees.
Yahoo created a custom search tool that intelligence officials used to probe emails for key terms. The software was developed without the knowledge of Yahoo’s security team, including Chief Information Security Officer Alex Stamos, who left soon after discovering the program, according to the report.
Surveillance experts told Reuters the case marked the first time a U.S. Internet company agreed to an intelligence agency’s demand to track all incoming messages. The company in 2007 lost a court battle over a federal directive mandating that it search customers accounts without a warrant.
“Yahoo is a law abiding company, and complies with the laws of the United States,” the company said in a statement regarding the directive.
