4 ms·

The man behind Yahoo’s plan to become the most ‘trustworthy’ tech company

48 points by SimplyUseless 11y ago

webdevsblow 11y ago
You can trust us, I mean, look at our homepage... [user takes a look] aaarrgh my eyes, the visual noise, not so much a cacophony of design as an incontinent angry bowel disorder of a design.
tacos 11y ago
Easy to be snarky about this as Yahoo really is drowning in its own shit and daily bad decisions, but I really like the guy's approach. He'll be at Microsoft or Google in a year.
bgilroy26 11y ago
I enjoyed listening to Alex Stamos on this forward-looking multi-part discussion on cryptography from Blackhat 2013: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33RbRid1deo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33RbRid1deo
deftnerd 11y ago
I wonder if they would attempt to acquire Duck Duck Go. It would be a smart move for them on many levels
- bobajeff 11y ago
  What would they do with it? It's doesn't have very many users. It relies mostly off of Bing. The results aren't as good as even Yahoo's or Bing's. So they acquire it and promote it as this big privacy alternative to Google search seperate from Yahoo search (which is tied to obligations of their deal with Bing). Assuming that all search engines they make aren't subject to the same obligations with Bing, they get a nitch brand and a opportunity to build a new search engine from the ground up? Oh and for all that work they get no money from targeted ads and user data?
- castell 11y ago
  They have done the opposite as of today, the changed their BOSS API, the main data source of Duck Duck Go, from free to $1.80 per 1000 queries: https://developer.yahoo.com/boss/search/ https://developer.yahoo.com/boss/search/ (There is a section "Who's using Yahoo BOSS" -> Duck Duck Go, and a "Pricing" section below)
  - Otik 11y ago
    Sounds like a good (but dirty) move if they want to purchase it cheap.
stephencanon 11y ago
Do they have a business model other than selling user data to advertisers? No? Then it'll take more than a "plan".
- throwawaykf05 11y ago
  Yahoo has actually regressed in that respect. Previously, Yahoo mail, like Hotmail, did not mine your email content for displaying targeted ads. In 2011, Yahoo changed their policies and started displaying "relevant ads".
shiv86 11y ago
It would be great if they could start by fixing their API and actually repond to developers on their forums: https://developer.yahoo.com/forums/#/discussion/7106/social-api-issue-yahoo-developers-please-implement-this-suggested-fix-no-access-control-allow-orig https://developer.yahoo.com/forums/#/discussion/7106/social-...
hackuser 11y ago
I'm glad that someone sees demand for privacy. I wish Mozilla would brand itself the same way; with their non-profit, public good mission, few could compete with them for user trust. That's how they can compete with FirefoxOS, Firefox for Android, and other products, IMHO -- it would be hard for Google and Apple to convince the public that privacy is their priority after all these years. Based on my limited knowledge, more and more consumers are looking for privacy options. If and when demand for privacy takes off, Mozilla and Yahoo would be in good shape if they were already established in user's minds as the 'trustworthy' vendors.
- x0x0 11y ago
  What is your beef with Apple about privacy?
  - dijit 11y ago
    it's very popular to hate apple for privacy. it seems odd that the same people flock to google for privacy when google's entire business model rests on selling or farming it's users data in various ways. (where-as apples is selling products which you pay for) I've said before that Apple has a business model that is capable of being privacy conscious- so I'm more willing to trust them than google. it just seems like some very well placed propaganda.
    - bad_user 11y ago
      For some reason every time somebody criticizes Google, somebody ends up making the argument that Apple is worse and vice-versa. I don't really get it. Is it because you feel the need to root for your favorite or something? Either way, it's a fallacy that brings nothing to the discussion.
      - cbsmith 11y ago
        If it were a fallacy, that'd mean it wasn't true. It's more propaganda than fallacy, but I'd agree it is questionable what it brings to the discussion.
castell 11y ago
Today, Yahoo changed the pricing for their BOSS search API from free to $1.80 per 1000 queries (the main data source of DuckDuchGo search, and other startups): https://developer.yahoo.com/boss/search/ https://developer.yahoo.com/boss/search/ and https://policies.yahoo.com/us/en/yahoo/terms/product-atos/boss/pricing/index.htm https://policies.yahoo.com/us/en/yahoo/terms/product-atos/bo... (the free API "Limited Web" has been discontinued as of June 1st, 2015)
- EduardoBautista 11y ago
  It will be interesting to see how this will play out for duckduckgo
roflchoppa 11y ago
They should start with the shitstorm that is their comment section, I'm all open for a public forum, but holy shit its a cesspool.

48 points by SimplyUseless 11y ago

You can trust us, I mean, look at our homepage... [user takes a look] aaarrgh my eyes, the visual noise, not so much a cacophony of design as an incontinent angry bowel disorder of a design.

tacos 11y ago

Easy to be snarky about this as Yahoo really is drowning in its own shit and daily bad decisions, but I really like the guy's approach. He'll be at Microsoft or Google in a year.

bgilroy26 11y ago

I enjoyed listening to Alex Stamos on this forward-looking multi-part discussion on cryptography from Blackhat 2013: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33RbRid1deo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33RbRid1deo

deftnerd 11y ago

I wonder if they would attempt to acquire Duck Duck Go. It would be a smart move for them on many levels

bobajeff 11y ago
What would they do with it? It's doesn't have very many users. It relies mostly off of Bing. The results aren't as good as even Yahoo's or Bing's. So they acquire it and promote it as this big privacy alternative to Google search seperate from Yahoo search (which is tied to obligations of their deal with Bing). Assuming that all search engines they make aren't subject to the same obligations with Bing, they get a nitch brand and a opportunity to build a new search engine from the ground up? Oh and for all that work they get no money from targeted ads and user data?
castell 11y ago
They have done the opposite as of today, the changed their BOSS API, the main data source of Duck Duck Go, from free to $1.80 per 1000 queries: https://developer.yahoo.com/boss/search/ https://developer.yahoo.com/boss/search/ (There is a section "Who's using Yahoo BOSS" -> Duck Duck Go, and a "Pricing" section below)
- Otik 11y ago
  Sounds like a good (but dirty) move if they want to purchase it cheap.

stephencanon 11y ago

Do they have a business model other than selling user data to advertisers? No? Then it'll take more than a "plan".

throwawaykf05 11y ago
Yahoo has actually regressed in that respect. Previously, Yahoo mail, like Hotmail, did not mine your email content for displaying targeted ads. In 2011, Yahoo changed their policies and started displaying "relevant ads".

shiv86 11y ago

It would be great if they could start by fixing their API and actually repond to developers on their forums: https://developer.yahoo.com/forums/#/discussion/7106/social-api-issue-yahoo-developers-please-implement-this-suggested-fix-no-access-control-allow-orig https://developer.yahoo.com/forums/#/discussion/7106/social-...

hackuser 11y ago

I'm glad that someone sees demand for privacy. I wish Mozilla would brand itself the same way; with their non-profit, public good mission, few could compete with them for user trust. That's how they can compete with FirefoxOS, Firefox for Android, and other products, IMHO -- it would be hard for Google and Apple to convince the public that privacy is their priority after all these years. Based on my limited knowledge, more and more consumers are looking for privacy options. If and when demand for privacy takes off, Mozilla and Yahoo would be in good shape if they were already established in user's minds as the 'trustworthy' vendors.

x0x0 11y ago
What is your beef with Apple about privacy?
- dijit 11y ago
  it's very popular to hate apple for privacy. it seems odd that the same people flock to google for privacy when google's entire business model rests on selling or farming it's users data in various ways. (where-as apples is selling products which you pay for) I've said before that Apple has a business model that is capable of being privacy conscious- so I'm more willing to trust them than google. it just seems like some very well placed propaganda.
  - bad_user 11y ago
    For some reason every time somebody criticizes Google, somebody ends up making the argument that Apple is worse and vice-versa. I don't really get it. Is it because you feel the need to root for your favorite or something? Either way, it's a fallacy that brings nothing to the discussion.
    - cbsmith 11y ago
      If it were a fallacy, that'd mean it wasn't true. It's more propaganda than fallacy, but I'd agree it is questionable what it brings to the discussion.

castell 11y ago

Today, Yahoo changed the pricing for their BOSS search API from free to $1.80 per 1000 queries (the main data source of DuckDuchGo search, and other startups): https://developer.yahoo.com/boss/search/ https://developer.yahoo.com/boss/search/ and https://policies.yahoo.com/us/en/yahoo/terms/product-atos/boss/pricing/index.htm https://policies.yahoo.com/us/en/yahoo/terms/product-atos/bo... (the free API "Limited Web" has been discontinued as of June 1st, 2015)

EduardoBautista 11y ago
It will be interesting to see how this will play out for duckduckgo

roflchoppa 11y ago

They should start with the shitstorm that is their comment section, I'm all open for a public forum, but holy shit its a cesspool.