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Yahoo! Messenger now censors the links you share
We've all thought it, but never dared think it could be true: what if Microsoft, Yahoo, and AOL actively monitor our instant messenger chats? What if mentions of 'bomb' and 'underage' are tracked and sent to law enforcement agencies? What if chat providers don't agree with the things we say, or the links we share, and filter or censor the content of our transmitted messages?Well, it looks like our fears may actually have some basis in reality: Yahoo Messenger strips FilesTube links from instant messages. It doesn't tell either party that a URL has been removed from chat -- it just deletes it. Poof. FilesTube, in case you were wondering, is one of the largest file hosting meta search engines on the Web -- it indexes RapidShare, Megaupload, Mediafire, and many other 'cyberlocker' services.
It's fairly obvious why FilesTube links are being removed -- the Censor General at Yahoo is probably one of those perplexed primates who think all uses of BitTorrent are illegal -- but this situation poses a far more important question: is Yahoo censoring messages on the client side, or the server side. Does the messenger client itself maintain a list of 'blacklisted' words -- and if so, why are we not told that FilesTube links are banned? What other words and terms does Yahoo protect us from?
If the filtering is done on the server, then we have a much larger problem: Yahoo is parsing every message we send and removing content that it deems illegal. Why is chat not encrypted? What else is Yahoo censoring? Who decides what is illegal, and what isn't? Is a governmental agency involved -- a lobbying group, like the MPAA or RIAA?
If you value your privacy, and you want to chat without the Yahoo Big Brother looking over your shoulder, we suggest you use an IM client that supports encryption, such as Adium for Mac, and Pidgin with Pidgin-Encryption for Windows.
Comments
16
Subscribe to commentsHeaven'sHellslayerMar 30th 2011 6:17AM
Why no mention of google?
HitmakerMar 30th 2011 6:56AM
Microsoft's MSN Client did something similar, it would fail to deliver messages that contained links ending with the ".php" extension and not notify either party.
Sebastian AnthonyMar 30th 2011 6:58AM
@Hitmaker Do you have a source for that? Not seeing any obvious results on Google.
Sebastian AnthonyMar 30th 2011 6:58AM
Because GTalk is tiny compared to the other three!
HitmakerApr 11th 2011 8:11AM
@Sebastian Anthony This was something me and a friend discovered a long while ago (before it adopted the "live" moniker) and was the final straw in dropping it, so im not sure that this is still an issue.
http://channel9.msdn.com/forums/Coffeehouse/140806-MSN-Messenger-blocking-php/
JoshMar 30th 2011 8:08AM
Yeah, MSN/WLM has been doing this for years. At one point I think they even made the mistake of blocking 4chan links (ask AT&T how messing with 4chan turns out)
MxxConMar 30th 2011 8:50AM
regarding alternative clients that support encryption, you didn't mention Miranda IM.
btw, for me Yahoo Messenger has been filtering ANY messages that contained just URL links and nothing else.
if i put a ". " in front of the link it goes through.
Sebastian AnthonyMar 30th 2011 9:10AM
@MxxCon Miranda's good!
A lot of IM clients support encryption -- I think YIM is rare in that it doesn't support encryption.
Of course, some clients might only encrypt login details and stuff, which is no good.
Gouthaman KarunakaranMar 30th 2011 9:03AM
Facebook Chat does that too. Try sharing a Pirate Bay link and you'll know. :)
Sebastian AnthonyMar 30th 2011 9:09AM
@Gouthaman Karunakaran Good point! I remember reading about that a while ago.
I just tested it -- you're right, it marks it as 'abusive or spammy'. Hah.
HexDSLMar 30th 2011 1:43PM
just more reasons to use Gtalk then
derk pMar 30th 2011 1:52PM
why dont they filter all the effing spam i get from "girls getting nude on cam"
Ntw1103Mar 30th 2011 8:04PM
I highly recommend Off-the-Record (OTR) Messaging: http://www.cypherpunks.ca/otr/
They have plugins for: Trillian(my favorite), Pidgin, Miranda, Adium, Kopete,
for trillian: http://trillianotr.kittyfox.net/
You should be able to use this with any client if you want to setup a local proxy.
Sebastian AnthonyMar 31st 2011 5:11AM
@Ntw1103 Ah, I listened to ta talk about OTR the other day! It was from a cyberpunk guy too, I think... Very interesting.
Sebastian AnthonyApr 11th 2011 8:23AM
@Hitmaker Wow, old school :) Thanks for the link!
Phil4May 16th 2011 10:40AM
Check ReChat (Android messenger):
- Facebook, Yahoo!®, Google Talk, WLM/MSN, Jabber/XMPP;
- group chat (Yahoo!®, Google Talk, WLM/MSN, XMPP);
- free voice calls to ANY contact;
- free SMS worldwide BETA (with replies for USA/Canada);
- plain/bubble view, font packs, send image/video, copy/paste, password, add/remove contacts.
Facebook: upload image/video, send image/video, send message (as private event or wall post).
Yahoo!®: conferences (create/invite).
Google Talk: group chat, new email notification, unread emails w/o content.
WLM/MSN: rooms (create/invite).
Jabber/XMPP: rooms (create/invite).