Yahoo! launches Wishlist for interactive Username

Now you can get your Yahoo! Username what you want. If there's a Yahoo email address you've been pining for, head over to wishlist.yahoo.com where you can enter up to five usernames, from most to least wanted. If you're first in line, Yahoo will email you a link to claim it in mid-August.

The move to reclaim user IDs isn't without controversy; people are concerned about privacy and security and rightly so. What if an inactive Yahoo email account is being used as a secondary email address? What if it's being used as an alternative password reset account to a primary account? If somebody claims a Yahoo username which used to belong to someone else, could they use it to force a password reset elsewhere?

Which is why Yahoo is also instituting a new security measure with the ID resets. The 'Require-Recipient-Valid-Since' header system will work with other websites to check the age of the account before delivering the email, to prevent email meant for the previous owner being sent. For example, if a Facebook user with an existing Yahoo email sends a request to reset their password, Facebook would signal Yahoo to check the age of the account before delivering the password reset email.

To get the Yahoo! username you’ve always wanted, Yahoo!’ve set up a page where you can request your top five choices. If your first choice isn’t available, Yahoo!’ll try one of your backups.

In mid-August, you’ll get an email letting you know which of your picks is available, with link to claim it within 48 hours. And just like that, it’s all yours.

Your Yahoo! username is what you use to log into all services daily, so Yahoo! want it to reflect who you really are.

Since it take privacy and safety seriously, Yahoo!’re announcing exactly how it’ll be working with partners, like e-commerce and social networking sites, on identifying that you’re the new owner of a Yahoo! username, and not the previous one.

This is a cool opportunity for you to get creative, so have fun picking out your new username.