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AOL Search Data Flap Draws Lawsuit
David Utter
Staff Writer
2006-09-26
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The inevitable legal action against AOL for releasing details on the queries performed by 658,000 of its users began with a suit seeking class action status filed in a California court.
 | | AOL Search Data Flap Draws Lawsuit |  |
Three members of AOL have initiated the case in US District Court in Northern California and accused AOL of violating several privacy and consumer laws, in addition to the company's own privacy policies. 20 million queries with usernames removed were posted online by AOL Research and stayed up for several days before being removed.
That data has been obtained and redistributed online. A few websites launched and offered an easy way to search the data to see what searchers queried for over a three month period. Despite the lack of usernames, the New York Times was able to track down one user in Georgia as an example of how the data could be used this way.
WebProNews writer Jason Lee Miller also demonstrated three examples of how one could construct a profile of a given user based on searches associated to unique identifier numbers that replaced usernames in the data.
Examples like these probably made it inevitable that lawsuits against AOL would take place. Two of the three plaintiffs have requested anonymity in the suit and are identified as Doe #1 and Doe #2. Both anonymous plaintiffs reside in California.
"For AOL members who have been personally identified, their private, highly personal, sensitive and confidential information is there for public inquiry, obloquy, and ridicule," the lawsuit said of the existence of websites that made the AOL data searchable.
The litigants also make this complaint against AOL, among many issues cited in the 20-page document filed with the court (spacing added for clarity):
In particular, AOL has failed to block its own search engine from further disclosing the Member Search Data. A search query executed on AOL's search engine using terms contained in the Database will return results linking third-party websites that post copies of the Member Search Data.
Likewise, search queries using the names of AOL members whose identities have been revealed also return search results linking third-party websites posting copies of the Member Search Data.
To protect the privacy of those whose search records it improperly disclosed, AOL could program its search engine not to provide results linking to these websites. AOL, however, has not done so.
As noted on AOL's search site, its results are "enhanced" by Google. It may not be a matter of AOL making the change to its index, but Google instead.
The lawsuit asks for damages in the neighborhood of $2.6 billion, based on violations of federal law and laws specific to California residents. Evidently, California residents would be entitled to higher damages due to provisions in the state's Civil Code.
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Tag: AOL
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About the Author:
David Utter is a business and technology writer for SecurityProNews and WebProNews.
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