In 2006, the internet company AOL released a large excerpt from its Web search query logs to the public. AOL did not identify users in the report, but

personally identifiable information Personal data, also known as personal information or personally identifiable information (PII), is any information related to an identifiable person. The abbreviation PII is widely accepted in the United States, but the phrase it abbreviates ha ...

was present in many of the queries. This allowed some users to be identified by their search queries. Although AOL took down the file within a few days, it had already been widely copied and still remains available.

Overview

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 queries for over 650,000 users over a 3-month period; it was intended for research. AOL deleted the file on their site by August 7, but not before it had been copied and distributed on the Internet. AOL did not identify users in the report; however,

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. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' 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 ''Business 2.0'' was a monthly magazine publication founded by magazine entrepreneur Chris Anderson, Mark Gross, and journalist James Daly in order to chronicle the rise of the "New Economy". First published in July 1998, the magazine was sold ...

'' on

CNNMoney CNN Business (formerly CNN Money) is a financial news and information website, operated by CNN. The website was originally formed as a joint venture between CNN.com and Time Warner's '' Fortune'' and ''Money'' magazines. Since the spin-off of Ti ...

ranked the release of the search data as #57 of its "101 Dumbest Moments in Business."

Lawsuits

In September 2006, a class action lawsuit was filed against AOL in the

U.S. District Court The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district cou ...

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. The case was settled in 2013.

Notable users

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

Thelma Arnold

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 Lilburn is a city in Gwinnett County, Georgia, Gwinnett County, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, United States. The population was 14,502 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. The estimated population was 12,810 in 2019. It is a part of t ...

. 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.

User 927

One product of the AOL scandal was the proliferation of blog entries examining the exposed data. Certain users' search logs were identified as interesting, humorous, disturbing, or dangerous. Consumer watchdog website '' The Consumerist'' posted a blog entry by editor Ben Popken identifying the anonymous user number 927 as having an especially bizarre and macabre search history, ranging from butterfly orchids and the band

Fall Out Boy Fall Out Boy is an American rock band formed in Wilmette, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, in 2001. The band consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Patrick Stump, bassist Pete Wentz, lead guitarist Joe Trohman, and drummer Andy Hurley. ...

, to search terms relating to

child pornography Child pornography (also called CP, child sexual abuse material, CSAM, child porn, or kiddie porn) is pornography that unlawfully exploits children for sexual stimulation. It may be produced with the direct involvement or sexual assault of a chi ...

and

zoophilia Zoophilia is a paraphilia involving a sexual fixation on non-human animals. Bestiality is cross-species sexual activity between humans and non-human animals. The terms are often used interchangeably, but some researchers make a distinction ...

. The blog posting has since been viewed nearly 4,000 times and referenced on a number of other high-profile sites. In addition to sparking the interest of the Internet community, User 927 inspired a theatrical production, written by Katharine Clark Gray in Philadelphia. The play, also named ''User 927'', has since been cited on several of the same blogs that originally discovered the real user's existence.

User 711391

A series of movies on the web site Minimovies called ''

I Love Alaska I Love Alaska is a 2009 documentary chronicling the AOL search history of "user 711391," whose searches are narrated by a monotone female voiceover. The film was produced by Submarine Channel, and released episodically in 2009 before being uploade ...

'' puts voice and imagery to User 711391 which the authors have labeled as "an episodic documentary".

References

External links

AOL Stalker (archived)
– Search keywords and users. Tag users and search tags, also features funniest users list.
AOL Search Database
– Analysis and discussion of released AOL search data. {{DEFAULTSORT:Aol Search Data Scandal AOL Corporate scandals Ethics of science and technology 2006 controversies Works subject to a lawsuit Privacy controversies and disputes August 2006 events in the United States