Yahoo Bans Any Username Containing “Allah” - 2,020 Views, 6 Comments

Summary: Yahoo is being accused of banning the name "Allah" as or in any Yahoo username, and it looks as if the accusations are true. Nobody has been able to register any username containing the string "allah".

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Word on the street is that Yahoo! has an unwritten policy banning Yahoo usernames which contain any name or term that it deems offensive or otherwise unacceptable. And this apparently includes the name “Allah”.

Which means, for example, that a Muslim could not register the name “allah_is_my_copilot@yahoo.com” or “PraiseBeToAllah@yahoo.com”, for example.

It also means that one cannot register any username containing the string “allah”, even if your real name contains the string, such as someone trying to register “Callahan” or “Kallahar” (it’s happened to people with both names already).

When one tries to register a username which contains the string “allah” you get a “sorry, this username is unavailable” message.

Even if the username you are trying to register is “12345allah325fjakafjkflja”.

Now really, do you think that somebody else has registered that?

Other words discovered to be on the Yahoo banned list include “admin”, “security”, “osama”, and a few which I won’t mention here, as they are “NSFW” (Not Safe for Work).

It is also interesting to note that there are many words which are not on the Yahoo banned list, even though Allah is, including “God”, “Jesus”, “Jehova”, and the riot-invoking “Mohammed”. Oh yes, “rape” and “incest” are also allowed.

But don’t take my word for it; try it for yourself! Follow this link and enter any username you like, and click on the “check availability of this ID” button. If you already have a valid Yahoo user i.d., be sure to log out first.

Check availability of Yahoo IDs

Be sure to report back on your findings!

UPDATE! As of 2/22/06, it appears that Yahoo has removed the ban on usernames containing the string “allah”, although “admin”, “security” and “osama” appear to still be on the ban list.

Yahoo Bans Any Username Containing “Allah”

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6 Comments »

One person I read about tried to register “RapeIsMyHobby” and they let it right through!

Crazy!

Comment by Anonymous Coward — 2/21/2006 @ 10:48 am
Given the number of people named Jesús or variations on Mohammed (not to mention the number of spellings!) I’d expect it to be a bit hard for them to block those names without being noticed. But it’s not as if Callahan is that uncommon a name.

Well, file it away as another example of how simple string-comparison filters are too simple to use in the real world. You’d think Yahoo would have gone to a little extra trouble.

Comment by Kelson — 2/21/2006 @ 3:52 pm
Who really cares…why stir up more s***…

Comment by Lon — 2/22/2006 @ 8:33 am
Ok I tried “Congratulations, the ID
allah236508aer is available!” So either Aunty Spam is stirring up unnecessary trouble or yahoo has corrected itself … whatever… we dont need stirring the pot folks…

Comment by M D M — 2/22/2006 @ 2:07 pm
A friend of mine tried to register a username based on her first name — Cassandra — and it was suggested (by the script at that site) that to avoid offending people she might want to consider Cbuttandra instead.

Comment by Joshua Zucker — 2/28/2006 @ 9:39 pm
a37402allah238493 is available, for me.

Comment by Yiddish — 8/10/2006 @ 12:38 pm

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This article first appeared on 2/21/2006

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