CNET: Yahoo settles telemarketing dispute
WSJ (subscription required): Yahoo Resolves Probe by Spitzer
DM News: Yahoo, New York AG Settle

Under pressure from an investigation by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, Yahoo settled claims against it that it violated its own privacy policy when it started exploiting telephone numbers of users who previously were led to believe that information would not be distributed.

The case reveals a weakness in the armor of the National Do-Not-Call Registry, whereby companies can maintain that they have a "business relationship" with users, when users do not consider the relationship to be commercial in nature. Some users signed up for free stock portfolio tracking and other such services and considered themselves more akin to readers of a free newspaper than subscribers to a service.