The First (But Not Last!) AOL Search Records Lawsuit

Hear that? That’s the first rumbling of an avalanche: three AOL subscribers have named AOL as the defendants in a class-action lawsuit for spilling the search results of 650,000 subscribers.

Needless to say, the lawsuit is about the colossal act of incompetence that breached the privacy of practically everyone who’d ever used AOL and led to hilarious YTMDs like this one

The attorney who filed the suit says that AOL should at least be trying to shut down the mirror sites of the search database and be forbidden from collecting data like this in the future. Given that AOL obviously can’t be trusted with it, that seems pretty reasonable.

AOL Subscribers Sue Over Release of Search Data [Komotv.com]

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.