The most absurd Internet privacy class-action settlement ever

In 2013, Yahoo announced that it would begin scanning its users' e-mail for targeted advertising purposes—just as Google does. As is par for the course, class-action lawsuits were filed. The Silicon Valley media giant, according to one of the lawsuits, was violating the "personal liberties" of non-Yahoo Mail users. That's because non-Yahoo Mail users, who have sent mail to Yahoo mail users, were having their e-mail scanned without their permission. The suit, which was one of six that were co-mingled as a single class action, demanded that a judge halt the scanning and award each victim "$5,000 or three times actual damages" in addition to "reasonable attorneys' fees and costs."

Fast forward three years. The case is now closed. Days ago, a Silicon Valley federal judge signed off on a settlement. The lawyers won, they were awarded $4 million (£3 million), and the public got nothing. What's more, the settlement allows Yahoo to continue to scan e-mails without non-Yahoo users' consent. (Yahoo Mail customers have granted consent to the scanning as a condition of using the service.) The major change the lawsuit produced was that Yahoo is agreeing to scan the e-mail while it's at rest on its servers instead of while the mail is in transit. This, according to the settlement, satisfies the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA) claims. The deal spells out that Yahoo only has to do this for three years, but Yahoo said it would continue with the new scanning protocol after the three years expire.