Prompt's TechBlog

AOL has deliberately published the full search queries of 500,000 of its users that were performed over a period of three months, severely infringing the privacy of many of those randomly selected. All screennames were removed but that wasn't enough to protect the identity of many of the surfers. Some had searched for their own names, local amenities and friends and others had searched for social security numbers and addresses. When personally identifiable data is combined with searches for adult content and drugs, there is great potential for embarrassment and in some cases evidence of criminal activity. Following a backlash from the blogging community, AOL has removed the data. Not before an estimated 2000 copies were downloaded, though.

Quite apart from the ethics of putting this data in the public domain, the disclosure appears to contradict AOL's own privacy policy, which explicitly mentions information about searches and says it will only be disclosed in a few exceptional circumstances (which do not include putting it all online as research fodder). Now that this data has been given away to anyone with internet access in contravention of the policy, AOL customers will be wondering what the point was of having a privacy policy in the first place. AOL has made a big deal out of branding itself as a company that can be trusted, but appears to have overlooked the significance of the data its users entrust to its care.

Many commentators are contrasting AOL with Google: In March, Google defied the US Department of Justice (DOJ) when the DOJ demanded search logs be handed over. Google won.