[NetBehaviour] AOL Moves to Increase Privacy on Search Queries.

[marc]

AOL Moves to Increase Privacy on Search Queries.

By TOM ZELLER Jr.

AOL announced the resignation of its chief technology officer yesterday, 
two weeks after the company came under intense criticism from privacy 
advocates for releasing hundreds of thousands of its customers’ Web 
search queries.

An AOL researcher who put the queries online and a manager overseeing 
the project were dismissed, according to an AOL employee who did not 
want to be identified because the company does not comment publicly on 
personnel matters.

AOL, a unit of Time Warner, also said it planned to enhance data-privacy 
protections, reconsider the length of time that it holds onto the 
millions of search queries that customers make every day and re-educate 
its own employees about the sensitivity of personal data.

“This incident took place because some employees did not exercise good 
judgment or review their proposal with our privacy team,” Jonathan F. 
Miller, the chief executive, wrote in an e-mail message to employees 
released yesterday afternoon. “We are taking appropriate action with the 
employees who were responsible.”

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