Commentary

Just An Online Minute...AOL Goofs

Just as AOL is trying to entice Web users with free e-mail, storage and other formerly paid services, the company committed a gaffe so stunningly stupid, it's hard to believe that consumers will ever trust the company again.

About 10 days ago, someone at AOL thought it would be a good idea to post all of the search queries of around 658,000 users from March to May on a publicly accessible Web site. The data was "anonymized," meaning that the company replaced users' names with numbers; according to AOL, that process sufficed to render the users unidentifiable.

Never mind that users conduct vanity searches for their own names, or addresses, or type their credit card and social security numbers into search engines. AOL maintains that anyone could have typed in that information, not necessarily the person with that name and/or address, social security number, etc.

Well, yes, that's technically true. Users might search for their friends, employers or potential dates. Without more context, it's difficult to glean much from the fact that User X typed in one person's name to a search engine.

But individual searches weren't released in a vacuum; AOL provided three months' worth of context. Anyone who goes over the data released by AOL--and, even though the company tried to take it down Sunday night, it's been copied and posted throughout the Web--can probably deduce certain information leading to the identities of at least some users.

Of course, people conduct more than simple vanity searches online. They search for drugs, pornography, and all manner of illicit endeavors. One now- infamous user searched on phrases like "how to kill a wife," and "car crashes." Yes, he could be researching a book; the searches alone don't prove anything--but clearly the revelation of users' searches has the potential to at least embarrass people.

AOL spokesman Andrew Weinstein has been busy apologizing profusely for the incident. He's been sending around statements admitting to the blunder. "This was a screw-up, and we're angry and upset about it ... Although there was no personally-identifiable data linked to these accounts, we're absolutely not defending this. It was a mistake, and we apologize," he stated.

Still, it's obviously too late to fix this mess, at least for the users whose searches were revealed.

In the future, if AOL and other search engines want to prevent these sorts of mishaps, one step is to stop retaining data about users' searches--a solution proposed by Netscape general manager Jason Calacanis in his blog post about the debacle.

It's unclear why search engines retain this data anyway--other than out of the vague notion that information is power. But whatever theoretical benefit AOL and other companies get out of knowing each user's detailed search history surely is outweighed by the risk of that data becoming public.

Hey, All You Stars...!

It's that time again: MediaPost seeks nominations for the Online All Stars! We are seeking individuals who exemplify excellence and leadership in online media, marketing and advertising. Media company executives and online ad technology providers/vendors will not be considered.

The editors will select three marketers, three media agency strategists, and three creative directors who passionately evangelize and deploy digital media and marketing stategies. The All Stars will be feted at a party on Sept. 25 during the OMMA Conference & Expo and honored in the pages of OMMA magazine's October issue.

Send all nominations to telkin@mediapost.com with "All Stars" in the subject line by noon on Aug. 9.

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