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08.15.06
EFF Calls For AOL Investigation
 By
David A. Utter
The Electronic Frontier Foundation asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate AOL over its ill-considered release of search data from over 650,000 users.
Although usernames in the AOL search data released on its Research site were replaced with unique user ID numbers, it could be a trivial task to associate that information to one of a limited group of people, or even a single name.
That has the EFF furious about the release of information taking place. The EFF said in a statement the release of this data violated AOL's privacy policy and the Federal Trade Commission Act. They want the FTC to look into the situation that put three months' of search data online.
"Search terms can expose the most intimate details of a person's life -- private information about your family problems, your medical history, your financial situation, your political and religious beliefs, your sexual preferences, and much more," said EFF Staff Attorney Marcia Hofmann.
"At the very least, AOL should notify every customer whose privacy has been jeopardized by the company's careless handling of this incredibly private information, and AOL should not store this kind of data in the future when it doesn't have to."
Hoffman also noted that although AOL has removed the data from its site, several mirrors of the data have appeared online, including at least a couple with handy web interfaces for querying that data.
The data was set up for use by researchers, and was never intended or vetted by AOL for such widespread disclosure. Searches performed by users and captured in the data could expose individuals by the nature of the searches they made. A simple ego-surfing query into one's name or website would become an identifier that names the user.
The EFF wants the FTC to ensure AOL does not allow this to happen again. EFF staff attorney Kevin Bankston said, "this problem isn't limited to AOL -- every search company stores this kind of data. Hopefully, AOL's shocking violation of its users' privacy will spur Congress to clarify that the same law that prevents these companies from disclosing our personal emails also applies to our search logs."
About the Author:
David Utter is a business and technology writer with WebProNews.
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