Story originally printed in the Winona Daily News or online at www.winonadailynews.com
Published - Thursday, February 23, 2006
Fountain City man wins one for Allah
What’s in a name?
A whole lot, if you’re Ed Callahan of Fountain City, Wis.
Callahan recently tried to sign up for an e-mail account with the online information company Yahoo after his mother had trouble signing up for one.
Neither could get an account using their last name. At first, Callahan suspected it was because there was another Ed Callahan or another Linda Callahan who had gotten the name first. So, he tried several combinations of letters and numbers around the name.
None worked.
Callahan discovered it was because his last name contained the word “Allah,” the Arabic word for God.
Callahan tried using other variations of Allah, and all were rejected. However, words like “God,” “Jesus,” “Buddha” and “Satan” were accepted.
“This is just … well,” Callahan said, struggling to find words. “Well, it just smacks of discrimination.”
Both he and his mother tried contacting Yahoo but didn’t get a response. That’s when they took their case to the media. A newspaper in Massachusetts covered the story last week. A Yahoo representative didn’t dispute Callahan’s story but told the Daily Hampshire Gazette she needed more time to formulate a response.
Yahoo defended its position in a written statement released Wednesday saying that it wasn’t trying to discriminate against Muslims, rather protect users from hate-speech. “A small number of people registered for IDs using specific terms with the sole purpose of promoting hate, and then used those IDs to post content that was harmful or threatening to others, thus violating Yahoo’s Terms of Service,” the statement said.
The company announced it had changed its policy to allow the word to be used.
Ed Callahan promptly registered a new e-mail account: allah_in_callahan@yahoo.com.
Callahan said he understands that certain addresses like “administrator” need to be blocked, or others which pretend to be official. But, he doesn’t understand blocking the word “Allah.”
“I just picture a terrorist trying over and over again trying to get an account and being foiled every time just because they can’t include that word,” Callahan said.
On his Web site, www.edcallahan.com, he points out that Yahoo doesn’t prevent users from using other religious words which could be used for hate-speech. He suspects more sinister motives.
“The war on terror is becoming a war on Muslims,” Callahan said. “The word terrorist now means Muslims and it shouldn’t.”
Meagan Busath, a representative for Yahoo, said Callahan’s concerns helped officials re-examine the company’s policy and make the change.
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