According to a Mint report, Yahoo! Inc. was accused in a lawsuit of intercepting emails sent to users of its mail service and using personal information to profit from related advertisements.

The report added that the plaintiff seeks damages of $5,000 for each person whose privacy was allegedly invaded, according to a complaint filed on 15 November in federal court in San Jose, California. Information gleaned by scanning communications between users and non-users is used for tailoring advertisements to them, increasing Yahoo’s revenue, according to the filing, which cites the company’s published policies for its new email service.

“Yahoo’s automated systems scan and analyse all incoming and outgoing communications content sent and received from your account,” says the policy, according to the lawsuit. The purpose is to “match and serve targeted advertising and for spam and malware detection.”

Read the complete Mint report here