A YQL table contains either public or private data. An example of public data is search information, such as the local.search table. An application can access a public table through the /v1/public/yql endpoint, which does not require authorization. (For the full endpoint, see YQL Web Service URLs.)

A user's personal information, such as the social.contacts table, is private. Access to private data requires the user's approval. To access a private table, an application must use OAuth and the /v1/yql endpoint. YQL supports two-legged and three-legged OAuth.

For YQL code examples with OAuth, see the YQL Code Examples. For details, see the Yahoo! OAuth Quick Start Guide and the OAuth site.