A Chief Privacy Officer and basic common sense anyone?As you all know, during the weekend 20M search queries of 650,000 AOL users leaked, and are all over the Internet available for download. It's simple unbeliavable that the only measure to ensure the privacy of the data was the "unique ID", and how often does the excuse of improving search results pop out. No need for subpoenas this time, but basic use of filtering techniques.
Seems like AOL searcher 4417749 has been identified by a NYtimes reporter :
"Buried in a list of 20 million Web search queries collected by AOL and recently released on the Internet is user No. 4417749. The number was assigned by the company to protect the searcher’s anonymity, but it was not much of a shield. No. 4417749 conducted hundreds of searches over a three-month period on topics ranging from “numb fingers” to “60 single men” to “dog that urinates on everything.” And search by search, click by click, the identity of AOL user No. 4417749 became easier to discern. There are queries for “landscapers in Lilburn, Ga,” several people with the last name Arnold and “homes sold in shadow lake subdivision gwinnett county georgia.” It did not take much investigating to follow that data trail to Thelma Arnold, a 62-year-old widow who lives in Lilburn, Ga., frequently researches her friends’ medical ailments and loves her three dogs. “Those are my searches,” she said, after a reporter read part of the list to her."
Hope AOL gets to win the Big Brother Awards, nominated for sure.
Related resources and posts:
Privacy
Still worry about your search history and BigBrother?
The Feds, Google, MSN's reaction, and how you got "bigbrothered"?
What search engines know, or may find out about us?
Security vs Privacy or what's left from it
Snooping on Historical Click Streams
Brace Yourself - AOL to Enter Security Business
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