Alerts

August 14, 2006
AOL releases unfiltered search histories of 657,000 Plus users
On Monday, August 7, 2006 AOL apologized for releasing three months’ worth of detailed search queries of 657,000-plus of its users.  The information posted on AOLs research web site contained approximately 20 million search queries and additional data on user’s click-throughs to web sites in the search results.  The search results are generally highly revealing of individuals’ personal, financial, political, medical, religious, and other preferences as well as the businesses and people they associate with.

AOL posted a portion of its users’ search data on the Internet.  The data, although not identified expressly by name, included in some cases personally identifiable information such as individuals’ names, Social Security Numbers, and myriad other personal information.  In some instances individuals who did not inadvertently identify themselves by searching for their own name may still potentially be identifiable to varying degrees by other combinations of information searched for such as addresses, names of friends and family, schools, interests, organizational information, and other information.  In some cases, the precise time stamp AOL included with users’ click-throughs to external web sites may also potentially assist in further identifying some users to varying degrees.

The phrases, words, sentences, and web sites that AOL users searched for in AOL Search from March to May 2006 are chronologically listed according to a unique ID number assigned to each users’ account.  Some searches in the AOL data include Social Security Numbers, names, driver’s license numbers, addresses, specific religious and sexual preferences, specific and detailed medical conditions, insurance and banking information, job search queries, various kinds of background check-related queries, travel information, and other highly personal information.

For consumer tips on privacy and search engine use, see the World Privacy Forum’s Search Engine Privacy Tips: http://www.worldprivacyforum.org/searchengineprivacytips.html , the World Privacy Forum is a nonprofit, no partisan public interest research group that focuses on conducting in-depth research and consumer education in the area of privacy.