addresses that are being given a second life. The opportunity to
request the identifications began Monday and will extend through
August 7. Up to five different names can be submitted at http://
. Yahoo Inc. says a substantial number of old email
IDs are being made available, but isn't providing specifics. All the
deactivate
d accounts haven't been used in at least a year. The dormant
email IDs are being released a month after the Sunnyvale, California,
company notified users that they would have 30 days to log into an
inactive account if they wanted to keep it. People awarded the rights
to the recycled email addresses will have a 48-hour period to activate
the accounts beginning Aug. 15. Yahoo is hoping the inactive IDs will
be claimed by people who will use them to log into its website and
discover a series of changes to its email, homepage and other services
that have been made since Marissa Mayer became the company's CEO a
year ago. The resurrection of inactive email addresses, however, could
be exploited by computer hackers hoping to use the IDs to pry into
sensitive information about the former account holders. There's a risk
because many people use their email accounts as logins at a different
password- protected websites, including Facebook, Twitter and Amazon.
That raises the specter of some people trying to use the recycled
email IDs to request the passwords of former account holders. Yahoo
says it has taken a series of security measures to minimize the
chances of any mischief. Among other things, Yahoo says emails are now
being bounced back from the inactive email accounts. The company says
it has also developed a system that will help other websites identify
email addresses that have been transferred to new account holders after
the recycling is completed.