AOL search data scandal

The AOL search data leak was the release, in August 2006, of detailed search logs by AOL of a large number of AOL users. The release was intentional and intended for research purposes; however, the public release meant that the entire Internet could see the results rather than a select number of academics. AOL did not redact any information, which caused privacy concerns since users could potentially be identified from their searches.

On August 4, 2006, AOL Research, headed by Dr. Abdur Chowdhury, released a compressed text file on one of its websites containing twenty million search keywords for over 650,000 users over a 3-month period intended for research purposes. AOL deleted the search data on their site by August 7th, but not before it had been mirrored and distributed on the Internet.

AOL did not identify users in the report; however, personally identifiable information was present in many of the queries. As the queries were attributed by AOL to particular user numerically identified accounts, an individual could be identified and matched to their account and search history by such information.The New York Times was able to locate an individual from the released and anonymized search records by cross referencing them with phonebook listings. Consequently, the ethical implications of using this data for research are under debate.

AOL acknowledged it was a mistake and removed the data; however, the removal was too late. The data was redistributed by others and can still be downloaded from mirror sites.

In January 2007, Business 2.0 Magazine on CNNMoney ranked the release of the search data #57 in a segment called "101 Dumbest Moments in Business."

In September 2006, a class action lawsuit was filed against AOL in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

The lawsuit accuses AOL of violating the Electronic Communications Privacy Act and of fraudulent and deceptive business practices, among other claims, and seeks at least $5,000 for every person whose search data was exposed.

Although the searchers were only identified by a numeric ID, some people's search results have become notable due to various reasons.

Through clues revealed in the search queries, the New York Times successfully uncovered the identities of several searchers. With her permission, they exposed user #4417749 as Thelma Arnold, a 62-year-old widow from Lilburn, Georgia. This privacy breach was widely reported, and led to the resignation of AOL's CTO, Maureen Govern, on August 21, 2006. The media quoted an insider as saying that two employees had been fired: the researcher who released the data, and his immediate supervisor, who reported to Govern.

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