[LINK] AOL Web Searches

[Stephen Loosley]

At 04:47 PM 17/07/2007, Michael Still wrote:

>>> <http://data.aolsearchlogs.com/search/do.cgi?ANONID=2386968>
>>> I had to sneak a peek. This one really to hurt just to read!
>
> This is really old news. I think CNN ended up tracking down a granny
> who had done some of the searches? Mikal

According to the article yesterday "What search engines store about you .. 
many users are in the dark as to how much of their personal information is
retained by search engines, how long the data is kept, and, what security
measures they can take"  By Mary Brandel, Computerworld July 16, 2007,
the New York Times was able to trace one of the 500,000 AOL search logs:

"Last year, reporters at The New York Times didn't even need an IP address to track down the identity of an AOL user when AOL published anonymous search logs of 500,000 users over a three-month period. The identification was made possible simply based on the specificity of the search terms the user queried, such as real estate searches in the small town where she lived. (If you have any question as to what collected search terms reveal about an individual -- accurate or not -- check out those AOL search logs.) "
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Cheers people
Stephen Loosley
Victoria, Australia