Yahoo Reverses Allah Ban

Thursday, February 23rd, 2006 11:34 pm by Neal

Following-up on the Yahoo ‘allah’ ban, slashdot is reporting that Yahoo Mail has reversed the ban on ‘allah’ in usernames.

The policy reversal, announced Wednesday, came too late for Linda Callahan of Ashfield, Mass., who set up a Google Gmail account after being rejected by Yahoo Mail because of the presence of “allah” in her name, said her son, Ed Callahan.

“She was disgusted by (Yahoo’s policy) and saddened,” he said. “It was discriminatory. They disallowed ‘allah’ but allowed ‘jesus’ and ‘god,’ and I don’t think there is a rational explanation for that.”

The existence of the ban made a bit of a splash on the Web after it was reported in The Daily Hampshire Gazette on Friday and picked up by The Register and Slashdot this week.

Early Wednesday, Yahoo issued a statement about its new policy and the reasons for the original ban.

Click here to read their statement. Also, check out Ed Callahan’s site devoted to the Yahoo ban.

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