[NetBehaviour] AOL Releases Search Logs of 657,427 Users...

[marc]

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| AOL Releases Search Logs of 657,427 Users                          |
|   from the give-or-take dept.                                      |
|   posted by timothy on Monday August 07, @16:41 (Privacy)          |
|   http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/08/07/2022244          |
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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 [0]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
[1]covered on The Paradigm Shift [2]and Oh My News." fantomas adds "
Looks like they've just taken it down but it's [3]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 [4]how to kill their wives ..." Update: 08/07 21:32 GMT by
[5]T : [6]amromousa writes "[7]AOL is now apologizing for the release
..., calling it a "screw-up," which they're upset and angry about."

Discuss this story at:
    http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=06/08/07/2022244

Links:
    0. http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/08/06/aol-proudly-releases-massive-amounts-of-user-search-data/
    1. http://plentyoffish.wordpress.com/2006/08/06/aol-releases-googles-most-prized-keyword-list-google-is-gonna-get-mega-spammed/
    2. http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?article_class=4&no=309830&rel_no=1
    3. http://thepiratebay.org/details.php?id=3510027
    4. http://plentyoffish.wordpress.com/2006/08/07/aol-search-data-shows-users-planning-to-commit-murder/
    5. http://www.monkey.org/~timothy/
    6. http://www.amromousa.com/
    7. http://news.com.com/2100-1030_3-6102793.html?tag=nefd.top