In the wake of a congressional inquiry into how Internet companies and ISPs track their users' activities, Yahoo on Friday announced that it would it would allow users to opt out of customized advertising by month's end.

"Yahoo strongly believes that consumers want choice when customizing their online experience and they have also demonstrated a strong preference for advertising that is more personally relevant to them," Anne Toth, head of privacy and vice president for policy at Yahoo, said in a statement. "However, we understand that there are some users who prefer not to receive customized advertising and this opt-out will offer them even greater choice."

Yahoo's new policy will go into effect by the end of August, Toth said. At that point, users will be able to opt-out by visiting the Yahoo privacy center.

said by TKJunkMail :

Of course Yahoo will still be collecting browsing and search info - just not use it to target ads if you opt-out. So this doesn't address any privacy issues - just what ads you might see if you don't block all of them anyway.