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AOL Releases Search Logs of 657,427 Users
An anonymous reader writes "AOL has released the search logs of over 650,000 users for research purposes. This looks like it may become a public relations disaster for AOL, as well as a privacy nightmare for the users involved as Michael Arrington of TechCrunch notes: "AOL has released very private data about its users without their permission. While the AOL username has been changed to a random ID number, the ability to analyze all searches by a single user will often lead people to easily determine who the user is, and what they are up to. The data includes personal names, addresses, social security numbers and everything else someone might type into a search box." This is also being covered on The Paradigm Shift and Oh My News."
fantomas adds " Looks like they've just taken it down but it's still available on The Pirate Bay; not sure why but some of the academic researchers are going crazy musing the ethical aspects of letting the world know who's searching for how to kill their wives ..."
Update: 08/07 21:32 GMT by T : amromousa writes "AOL is now apologizing for the release ..., calling it a "screw-up," which they're upset and angry about."
The data was sent out anonymously. It had noones name attached to it. What is the big f'in deal?
I'm all for being gun ho about our rights and protecting our privacy, but this was 100% anonymous and was meant to be used for research purposes. I guess I just don't see what the big hoopla is..
I'm sorry, but if you're still using AOL at this point, you deserve whatever crazy coked-up junk they throw at you.
And how can you determine who a user is with their search info? I mean, who searches for themselves, or puts in their own information? And these are AOL users... Most likely these read as ['huge tits and dicks', 'free smileys','screensavers and cursor fun',...].
You still don't know who that person is, so why does it matter.
Why were you ever under the delusion that aggrigate data about your searches would be kept private. You don't even have an implied right to privacy when you send un-encrypted data across the internet. Not only are people stupid if they're upset about this, they're stupid if they're surprised.
Calling this is a consumer rights issue is a joke. There are no rights involved here other than ones that people made up after the fact because they were irrationally upset.