AOL Reveals User’s Searches
8th August 2006
Do you assume that the details about you search for are just between you and your search engine? If you use AOL, you might be sorely mistaken.
Of course, other search engines have shown us glimpses of what people search for in the past, but it’s usually not connected to users in any way, as was the case with AOL’s release.
I’d almost say that they get what they deserve for using AOL, but bad things can happen when information like that is released inadvertently.
August 9th, 2006 at 12:32 pm
[…] For those who think that the recent AOL privacy slip-up is not an issue since the data was masked by User IDs, here is a perfect example of just how easy it is to connect a people to their data. […]
August 18th, 2006 at 2:41 pm
[…] That search log data that AOL released is simply not going to go away. It’s out there, people have it, and they’re having way too much fun with it. AOL Search Logs is sort of a community site where users sift through the released logs and create profiles of the User IDs connected to the data. I won’t link to any in particular, but they have found stuff that ranges from highly embarrassing to utterly criminal. […]
August 24th, 2006 at 9:46 am
[…] In response to the recent AOL privacy blunder Unspam Technologies, Inc., a Utah based anti-spam firm, launched a new service to keep search engines guessing as to the real preferences of their users. […]