Internet

There are some firsts that don't give you bragging rights — and in Yahoo's case, that's particularly true if the claim involves customer emails.

A Reuters report Tuesday that Yahoo secretly agreed to search all its users' incoming emails for a specific but unknown word or phrase on behalf of either the National Security Agency or the FBI set off shockwaves in the tech sector, particularly on the heels of Yahoo's disclosure last month that information had been stolen on 500 million customer accounts.

Yahoo didn't confirm or deny the report, but also said it didn't break any law. Big consumer tech companies including Google and Microsoft noted they haven't done anything like the allegations claimed by the Reuters report, which cited unnamed ex-Yahoo employees.