Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO), a leading global Internet company, today launched a new and more powerful version of SpamGuard, a patent-pending spam filtering technology that is part of the basic service available to all Yahoo! Mail (http://mail.yahoo.com) users. The new version of SpamGuard significantly reduces the amount of spam delivered to users inboxes and, in preliminary tests, resulted in user reports of spam declining by as much as 40 percent.

Demonstrating the company's commitment to improving technology and increasing effectiveness, SpamGuard caught five times more spam in February 2003 than in February 2002. The "This is Spam" link, launched in August 2002, has played an integral role in improving SpamGuard technology by evaluating the feedback received by tens of millions of Yahoo! Mail users to better identify and filter spam. The advanced version of SpamGuard is more comprehensive at thwarting the techniques spammers are using today. SpamGuard's sophisticated filtering technology automatically detects and directs spam into a separate folder, giving people the option and control to review all of their incoming e-mail.

"We are committed to giving our users complete control over their inboxes and we continue to work tirelessly to create the best spam-fighting solution available," said Lisa Pollock, senior director, Yahoo! Messaging Products. "With the release of new Spamguard, and other useful tools, we believe we have the best solution to fight spam."

In addition to SpamGuard, Yahoo! Mail offers other spam-fighting tools to further bolster protection against spam. The newest weapon against spam provides e-mail users the ability to block html graphics from being downloaded automatically when a message is opened. This optional "block html graphics" feature protects users from viewing images they may not want to see. This feature also protects users from web beacons, which are invisible tags within an e-mail that trigger an alert back to the spammer that the e-mail has been opened and the address is "live." Furthermore, people have the control to block up to 100 addresses (200 for Yahoo! Mail Plus) and set up 15 filters (50 for Yahoo! Mail Plus) to customize protection against spam.

Yahoo! believes that a multi-faceted approach is key to effectively combat spam. Congress has correctly identified spam as a serious problem for both individuals and networks. In addition to improving its anti-spam tools and technology, Yahoo! supports legislation that provides for effective deterrents, penalties and marketing rules that would give consumers and email service providers additional protection from unsolicited commercial email. Through this multi-faceted approach, Yahoo! continues to be an industry leader in the battle against spam.