Topic: Customer Care. Background: Security issues such as cyber-stalking and harrassment are the concern of Yahoo! Customer Care, a section within Yahoo! not subordinate to the control of Yahoo! clubs, but very much interested in protecting the users of clubs. Specifically, known violations of Yahoo! Terms of Service (TOS) are the purview of this department and are to be reported to them. Please make sure you enter reference as "Customer Care / specific topic" in e-mail sent to [email protected]. CUSTOMER CARE, TOS VIOLATION, CYBERSTALKERS CYBERSTALKERS: Yahoo really needs to get its act together in regard to eliminating cyberstalkers in Yahoo clubs. My wife has been stalked through Yahoo clubs, IM, and email since December 1999 by a mentally deranged fellow who somehow got obsessed with her after ONE IM message exchange. After sending her numerous abusive emails, she blocked his address. After joining her club, uninvited, he was deleted. At that point he started using other club message boards to destroy her online reputation with slanderous lies and vile rumors about her and her club. When she first reported this in December 1999, Yahoo did nothing. Since that time, she has made over 100 complaints to Yahoo about this man. In April 2000, Yahoo finally deleted his account and his current club. He was back in a few hours with a new ID (as close as he could get to his old one) and a new club, which he used to continue to harass and slander her. He has since that time destroyed several clubs, ran several other woman off of Yahoo completely, and started a "hate war" with my wife as the primary subject in over 12 subject-related clubs. My wife has remained silent, following the guidelines given to us by the authorities about how to deal with a cyberstalker. Her only action has been to consistently report his TOS violations to Yahoo. What is hard for us to deal with is the fact that she has reported his continued violations of Yahoo TOS and nothing more has been done. He has two new clubs and several Yahoo accounts (which were also reported) and continues to be a troublemaker in every club he joins and participates in. He has been banned from five subject-related clubs, but most people are still afraid to take a stand against him. He spends hours every day on IM and in emails, spreading lies and enlisting people in his one-sided hate war against us. He is 53, but likes to gather young teens (of both sexes) around him and encourage them to make attacks on her and her club. Yahoo MUST be more vigilant in enforcing their TOS, especially when it comes to seriously deranged individuals who meet the criteria of being a cyberstalker. Please let me know what Yahoo's stand is on this issue. Harassment and abuse of others by sick individuals is RAMPANT in Yahoo clubs. My wife has gotten some interest from the press about Yahoo's inability or refusal (which is it, Warren?) to enforce their TOS. She plans to tell her story to the media (both online and offline) if Yahoo continues to turn a deaf ear to well-written, documented complaints against cyberstalkers in the clubs. How can Yahoo ignore 100 complaints about one individual who is continually violating Yahoo TOS? Yahoo must address this problem and take action against Cyberstalkers and harassers in the club. The promise of better things to come with the Egroups merger is a joke unless Yahoo gets its act together in regard to TOS violations and constant major operating glitches. Please get real!     I didn't mean to ignore this posting. Instead I wanted to talk this particular posting over with our abuse department to see why we did not respond to your concerns that you mention above.     The abuse team over in Customer Care has assured me that a rep will contact you to help resolve this problem. They will need some additional information in order to take action against this abuser.     I want you to know that we take issues like cyber stalking very seriously. Our goal is to offer Clubs users a safe, fun and positive experience. If you feel that you are being stalked, contact us immediately at [email protected] and will investigate the other user to determine if they are violating our TOS.     If we determine that a user is in violation of the TOS, then we will take appropriate action which can include canceling the user�s Yahoo! account.     However, if you feel that your safety is threatened in any way, you should not hesitate to contact law enforcement authorities in your area. UNDERAGED: Sadly there are many things that yahoos TOS ignore. Underage user ids in the members lists of 'adult' clubs is a biggy.    In the profiles area, you were able to display any age you wanted, regardless of whether or not this was your actual age. Thus we had folks who were indeed over 18 in their account info who lied and said they were underage on their profile. We have since shut down this capability, so you will no longer see this in adult clubs. Let me know if this is not the case. HARASSMENT: I've been the target of such harrassment and stalking myself. Legislation to broaden the legal definition of harrassment and stalking to include the internet is pending in several states as well as the federal government. If these bills are passed, then such activity would be a criminal offense, not merely a violation of Yahoo TOS. If someone creates a new ID just simply to be able to send you harrassing e-mail and IMs, because you have the known ones blocked, is this a flagrant violation of the TOS.     The fact they are harassing you is violation enough. The intent behind the creation of the ID isn't relevant. If you are being harassed, it is against our TOS and you should contact us and report the violation.   RESPONSE QUALITY CUSTOMER CARE: When there is a problem such as cyber stalking, often times it takes 5 e-mails to yahoo to get a response that is not automated. Usually it will say that it will check into the problem but nothing more, and often times yahoo will not e-mail you to say what they have or will do after checking into the problem. I bet that the whole club team is terribly busy, but it is often greatly appreciated just to get a response in which you know that action will be taken.     I agree. I'll talk with our Customer Care/Abuse team to see how we can better improve the current system and process.   TOC Review Topics Introduction to TOC Visit Yahoo! Club Founders' Club CFC Main Page You are visitor to this page. This page and its graphics were created by exclusively for The Club Founders' Yahoo! Chat Club. 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