14 DAY TRIAL // If you've been living under a rock (or just sleeping, since the story is just a few hours old), you might get pretty mad when you find out that Yahoo has built a custom tool that allowed the NSA and the FBI to scan all user emails.
The revelation came after three anonymous sources told Reuters reporters about a classified document that Yahoo received at the start of 2015, which the company opted to follow and built software that allowed NSA and FBI analysts to perform scans on everyone's emails, in real-time, for specific words or phrases.
Couple this privacy "slip-up" with the recently announced data breach that exposed some personal details for over 500 million users, and some of you might have had enough of Yahoo's indiscretions.
Enough is enough! Where's the "Delete" button?
If you're looking into how to delete your Yahoo account, the entire process is only three steps long:
Step 1: Authenticate on Yahoo! Step 2: Access the "Terminating your Yahoo! Account" page. Step 3: Enter your Yahoo password again, the CAPTCHA code, and then press the Yes button.
Unlike other services that only deactivate your account but keep your data on their servers, Yahoo will permanently delete your data, including Flickr photos. You might need to migrate your Flickr account to another service if you're actively using it.
Account data is kept on Yahoo's servers for 90 days, just in case someone has deleted your account as a prank or following an account takeover, after which it's deleted permanently.
With Yahoo leaking your personal details, destroying the once popular Messenger IM client, and now with Yahoo allowing the US government to access your emails without any restriction, it may be the time to switch to an encrypted email provider such as ProtonMail or RiseUp.