ZDNet: Yahoo backs off on porn sales. Yahoo has come under considerable scrutiny over the past few days after the Los Angeles Times reported that the company was expanding its online sales into sex-related videos and DVDs.
In January, after fighting French officials who wanted French citizens to be unable to see parts of Yahoo’s site where Nazi artifacts were being auctioned, Yahoo caved in by banning such auctions. Nazis are loathesome, but Yahoo didn’t care if historians were the ones looking for the items, not just wackos out for cheap thrills. Yahoo didn’t care about anything but making the trouble go away.
Now the blue-noses are out of joint. Once again, Yahoo is letting critics dictate its business practices.
The message is that Yahoo can be bullied. The company will ultimately regret its willingness to back down in the face of outside pressure.