Yahoo was pretty cool, once upon a time. Now they’ve got their hooks in us and they’re turning evil. If you are a member of a mailing list hosted at Yahoo, or have ever bought anything through a Yahoo-affiliated store online, or have a “My Yahoo” page–basically, if Yahoo has any information on you at all–then read the following and take appropriate action now:
Yahoo has sneakily added something something called “Marketing Preferences” to your account that gives Yahoo permission to send you spam through e-mail, the U.S. mail and phone, unless you check the “No” option of a series of buttons.
At the moment, Yahoo has defaulted all the buttons to the “Yes” option. To keep them from spamming you — “with your authorization” — you need to go to your account page and check the “No” buttons.
Go to http://groups.yahoo.com and sign in. At top-right of the page click on “Account Info.” You will be asked to confirm your password.
Once on your account page, scroll down to “Member Information” and click on “Edit your marketing preferences” (the link immediately below your email addresses).
On the next page, you’ll find a list of “Special Offers & Marketing Communications,” followed by the line “I would like to receive information about…” and a list of services Yahoo is offering. You’ll also find all the “Yes” buttons checked.
Check the “No” button of each service you do not desire.
Now scroll down to the bottom, where it says “Other Delivery: Indicate other ways you want to receive the special offers and marketing communications you have selected.”
You’ll find the options “via U.S. mail” and “via phone” checked “Yes.” If you don’t want these options, check “No.”
Finally, at bottom-right, click on the “Save Changes” button.