Yahoo! Application Platform Guidelines

This document describes policies and guidelines for the use of the APIs and Web Services, including the Yahoo! Application Platform (“YAP”).

The YAP consists of tools and API access that allow developers to build applications that integrate with and run on portions of the Yahoo! network.

Because the YAP is designed to be open to developers, Yahoo! needs to make sure that all developers using YAP understand and respect the expectations that Yahoo! and its users have about their experiences on Yahoo!. Accordingly, Yahoo! has created these YAP Guidelines to help developers understand what kinds of things are (and are not) appropriate for the YAP. All Applications that run on the YAP are subject to these guidelines, in addition to any other guidelines and agreements applicable to a developer's use of the YAP (such as the YAP Developer Terms of Use and any applicable Yahoo! API Terms of Use).

1. Applications may not promote, or contain content (including any advertising content) referencing, facilitating, promoting or using, the following:
1. Adult content, including nudity, sexual terms and/or images of people in positions or activities that are excessively suggestive or sexual, as well as mature content (non-pornographic), such as content that has sexuality as its primary theme, but is not sexually explicit. Such content may include sex advice or medical information.
2. Vulgar, Obscene, defamatory, libelous, slanderous and/or unlawful content;
3. Child pornography or any activity that harms minors;
4. Prostitution and escort services;
5. Body parts and bodily fluids;
6. Stolen or illegally obtained products;
7. Fireworks, explosives, bombs and hazardous materials, or provision of “how-to” materials;
8. Fake official items and documents including Government IDs, police items, diplomas or education transcripts
9. Academic paper-writing services, pre-written essays, theses and dissertations;
10. Unlicensed trade or dealing in stocks and securities;
11. Professional services regulated by state licensing regimes;
12. Products, services or methods of removing items from a user's credit report;
13. Products or services that facilitate the infringement upon the rights of any third party, including copyright, trademark, privacy, publicity or other personal or proprietary right, or that is deceptive or fraudulent;
14. Counterfeit, fake or bootleg products, or replicas or imitations of designer products;
15. Alcoholic beverages,
16. Tobacco and tobacco products;
17. Firearms, ammunition, or other weapons;
18. Online gambling, including without limitation, any online casino, sports books, bingo or poker;
19. Hate speech and materials (such as Nazi memorabilia), or materials urging acts of terrorism, propaganda or violence, whether directed at an individual or a group, and whether based upon the race, sex, creed, national origin, religious affiliation, marital status, sexual orientation or language of such individual or group;
20. Suffering and Violence. We will not accept content that advocates, glorifies or promotes the following: human cannibalism, human suffering or death, rape, torture, violence.
21. Goods made from protected animal or plant species;
22. The sale of recalled goods;
23. Any product or service subject to U.S. trade sanctions or embargo. Currently, the sale of products from any of the following countries is prohibited: The Balkans, Burma, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Liberia, North Korea, Syria or Zimbabwe;
24. Hacking, surveillance, interception, or descrambling equipment, as well as related techniques;
25. Items that may be used for theft (lock-picking equipment, master keys, etc.);
26. Illegal drugs and paraphernalia;
27. Schedule I and II drugs;
28. Prescription drugs and medical devices;
29. The evasion of drug laws, such as those promoting ways to "beat" a drug test;
30. Illegal activity (e.g. evading traffic tickets) and/or illegal contests, pyramid schemes or chain letters;
31. Content and products from uncertified pharmacies;
32. The distribution of virus, worms, trojans, malware or spyware;
33. The use of web cams or surveillance equipment for non-legitimate use;
34. Bulk marketing products or services, or the collection (as primary purpose) of personally identifiable information, if the stated or implied use of the product is unsolicited spam or other advertising or marketing content that violates applicable laws, regulations or industry standards;
35. Any other content or activity that Yahoo! in its sole discretion deems objectionable;
2. Applications may not perform, enable, promote, or allow any of the following:
1. Disable, block, disregard or circumvent any Yahoo! feature or functionality, settings, or technical measures instituted by Yahoo! (e.g., advertising, security measures, privacy settings, other user settings).
2. Capture, collect, use, transfer or share any user data through the user interface of Your Application, except as authorized by and consistent with the requirements of the Documents.
3. Contain functionality that proxies usernames or passwords for the purposes of automating logins to Yahoo!
4. Contain functionality that permits any person to impersonate a Yahoo! user or obtain access to Yahoo! without authorization;
5. Disregard or circumvent any technical measures instituted by Yahoo! to ensure that the application only provides users with a Yahoo! ID content that they would otherwise be able to view on Yahoo! in accordance with any user privacy settings;
6. Contain or distribute any software that: (i) "sneaks" onto a user's system and performs activities hidden to the user; (ii) may alter, harm, disable or replace any hardware or software installed on user's computer without express permission from the user; (iii) is bundled as a hidden component of other software, whether free or for fee; (iv) automatically downloads without the user's express prior approval; or (v) presents any download dialog boxes, or any other misleading content, without a user's express action (i.e., a click) to perform a download;
7. Prevent users from cancelling or skipping the installation;
8. Include automated actions pretending they are user generated;
9. Redirect the end-user's Internet searches or default search browser setting.
10. Add an Application to the end-user's web browser or modify other functionality of the browser or desktop.
11. Prevent users from uninstalling the application;
12. Change the end-user's home page, default search provider or error page handling or otherwise modify browser settings.
13. Change the end-user's default provider or web proxy, or make other changes to Internet settings.
14. Cause material adverse effects on system performance for typical end users;
15. Take control of an end-user’s computer by deceptive means (i.e. using the computer to send spam or spim from the computer to others; conducting denial of service attacks; accessing, hijacking or otherwise using the computer's modem or Internet connection or service in a manner that results in or could damage the computer of the end-user or anyone else).
16. Induce an end-user to provide personal information by intentionally misrepresenting the identity of the person or entity seeking the information.
17. Misrepresent, or materially alter any third party trademarks, logos, brand features, proprietary notices, content or functionality that appears in the user interface or functionality of Your Application.
18. Remove, disable, or render inoperative by deceptive means a security, anti-spyware or anti-virus technology installed on the computer without obtaining prior consent from the end-user.
19. Be designed or used for the primary purpose of facilitating illegal distribution or display of copyrighted content, or be promoted or marketed in any way as a means to illegally distribute copyrighted content.
20. Use Yahoo! logos or trademarks, to express or imply any endorsement by or affiliation with Yahoo!. However, you may use the name of a Yahoo! service or API to describe the functionality of your Application, and this descriptive use may only use block text (e.g. “XYZ App for Yahoo!® Sports” or “XYZ App for Flickr®”).
21. Enable any spyware, adware, pop-ups, pop-unders, or other malicious programs or code.
22. Enable any other activity that Yahoo! deems objectionable.
3. Dimensions, Functionality, and Editorial Requirements For Applications.
1. All Applications must be presented in, and not exceed the dimension the allocated space of, an "i-Frame" within the following bounds:
1. Full Page View – Width: 760 pixels, Height: 250 pixels (height value is a recommendation only).
2. Small View – Width: 300 pixels, Height 250 pixels or less.
To optimize for any variations in page assembly, as well as to maximize future scalability for any environmental changes, Yahoo! encourages developing a fluid presentation that can accommodate subtle width and height variations. Further, usage of semantic markup (to separate content from its presentation) is highly recommended.

2. Content displayed through any Application must remain within the dimensions of the Application's placement on the user profile page and cannot "float" or "break through" to other parts of the user profile page.
3. Animation, video, audio and any other interactive Application content (collectively, "Interactive Content") on the user profile page must be initiated only upon user click, unless the user has explicitly authorized the automatic initiation of such Interactive Content.
4. Roll-Over expandables must state "roll over for more content" and the panel must retract when the mouse is removed from the content.
5. Click expandables must state "click here for more content" and the panel must retract when the mouse is removed from the content or when user clicks a second time.
6. Yahoo! does not allow content containing flashing, excessive animation, or fake functionality such as HTML "Drop Downs" or "Search Forms"
7. Developer must have intellectual property rights to any content displayed and be permitted to display such content in the Application.
Yahoo! reserves the right to modify or require developers to modify any content (e.g., to "flatten" any animated .gifs to remove the animation) displayed on any Application to conform to these YAP Guidelines.
4. Collection and Storage of User Data
Access to Yahoo! user data is only permissible using approved authentication methods, such as Browser Based Authentication and Open Authentication http://developer.yahoo.com/auth.

Per the YAP Developer Terms of Use, you may not store any user data collected through the Yahoo! APIs for more than 24 hours, with the exception of information that is explicitly permitted to be indefinitely stored. Only the parameters listed below are storable indefinitely; all other information must be requested from Yahoo! each time.

Yahoo! user data that is storable indefinitely:

• GUID (Global Unique Identifier).
• Authenticated Token Value.
5. Marketing your Application
Developers may only use Yahoo! trademarks as permitted by the YAP Developer Terms of Use. Developers must comply with all applicable laws and regulations (including the CAN-SPAM Act and other laws related to spam or advertising), their own privacy policies, and expressed user preferences (e.g., any "opt-outs" or "opt-ins") when marketing or promoting their Applications, and may not market or promote their Applications in a way that would negatively reflect on Yahoo!.
6. Changes
These Platform Application Guidelines are subject to change at any time at our sole discretion. If we do change them, we will post a notice of the change on the site.