A woman scorned

[scandal 951]

http://www.thestreet.com/story/10501388/4/...eet-may-15.html

Yahoo!(YHOO Quote) promised to remove nude photos from its Web site, but dragged its feet instead. Now the Web giant is the one exposed as it runs to its next court appearance.

An Oregon court decided Monday to reinstate a woman's claim against Yahoo! for breach of contract for failing to immediately take down sexually explicit fake profiles of her created by her ex-boyfriend. The court found that Yahoo! was not liable for materials published or posted on their sites by outside parties. However, a federal court ruled that Cecilia Barnes could sue Yahoo! for promising to remove the "dangerous, cruel, and highly indecent" material, then failing to do so.

And Yahoo! thought Google(GOOG Quote) was a tough competitor! Barnes barnstormed all the way up to the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to make the company look bad.

Barnes filed the lawsuit in 2005 claiming her former boyfriend not only posted nude photos taken without her consent, but also created a phony profile and posed as her in an online chat room to solicit sex. The fraudulent profile contained Barnes' work phone number, email address and her physical address.

Once strange men began approaching her for sex, Barnes alleges she repeatedly contacted Yahoo!, demanding the company get rid of the profiles. Nevertheless, Yahoo! barely budged, taking three months to finally return her calls. And even after promising Barnes they would yank the offensive material, the company did nothing, according to Barnes.

That is, until Barnes unleashed the local media and a team of lawyers on the slow-acting Web site. But by that time, the wheels of justice were already in motion, and Yahoo!'s executives were left kicking themselves over an easily avoidable problem.

So if you want to find the real boobs in this silly affair, look no further.

[Nagishkaw 510]

Yahell.