AOL and privacy - the search blunder
AOL has just brought to light the risks posed by Search Engines to user privacy. The latest fracass, following months after the subpoenas to major search engines, is a goof-up by AOL in releasing the search behaviour of thousands of its users online...data which has already been lapped up from far corners of the net by enthusiasts, data analysts, reasearchers, laymen and possibly hackers. While user handles are not identified, the search data is quite revealing. This brings us to the important question of user privacy with Search Engines...should they be allowed to store and use such data as they see fit? Or should strong legislation and safeguards be put in place?
The mistake occured, AOL says, because the proper internal procedures for such postings were not followed. "It was an innocent enough attempt to reach out to the academic community with new research tools, but it was obviously not appropriately vetted, and if it had been, it would have been stopped in an instant," the company said.
tags:
AOL,
search,
blunder,
goof,
privacy
Posted 08/09/06 by JJ | Filed under: IT and Technology
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