First the junkmail, now this—AOL (mistakenly?) exposes search records to the public as part of an “attempt to reach out to the academic community”. While the (leaked?) database had assigned random code numbers to each searcher’s queries, matching up search strings that include, for example, proper names has proven not only theoretically but practically accomplishable.
In the search engine privacy PR-scape, this stands as a stark contrast to Google’s showdown with the DOJ early this year.
Speaking of willful nerds: Interviews continue! And yesterday’s was certainly better than that awkward shirtless Jonny B episode on Monday. I’d like you to meet Greg, or, as he prefers to be called, Grey Thunderstone. He will be called “Greg” in the office—and, yes, I’m keeping him. He’s a creative kid—when I told him we needed a picture for today’s story, he fashioned armor, shield and sword from the AOL Free Trial CDs we’d received this week. You can see the results, and Greg, in today’s feature photo.
He looks so happy. I’d forgotten that the Interns used to look like that. What happened? What went wrong? I’ll sit and ponder that while Greg is out on a scotch-and-coffee-and-drycleaning run.
While, as a stated ethical policy, we at The Aural Times do not specifically condone the exploitation of private data made public by corporate gaffs, the fact is that this data is very much in the wild.
So should you be inclined to look into it, I recommend that you at least use a site with a moderately good interface.
hey you guys are pretty damn good who cares about the news i just like the sound