The AOL user search queries data leaked on the internet were apparently posted by a technician who uploaded the data without vetting it through in-house privacy department, company spokesman Andrew Weinstein told WP.
AOL
AOL Apologizes For Splooging Your Searches
By 8.7.06
A boon for search engine researches quickly tumbled into a privacy snafu as AOL released search query results for 650,000+ users. AOL expression contrition and dismay in the quotes provided by spokesman Andrew Weinstein who said:
AOL User 231392 Illuminated
By 8.7.06
Here’s another AOL user who should definitely be manacled to a rusty pole and beaten with barb wire. Dirty thoughts! Dirty! Dirty!
Portait of AOL Search as a Young, Strange, Man
By 8.7.06
This research paper, authored by the same people listed as authors in the AOL data’s README, reveals what AOL had hoped for people to do with the data.
Why Might AOL’s Data Release Be A Big, Big Problem?
By 8.7.06
TechCrunch thinks there could be privacy breaches as people look up personal info which can then be correlated to their other searches.
AOL User 927 Illuminated
By 8.7.06
Aroused by the thought of juicy big piles of AOL user search data? Consumerist does the wading for you and finds a delightful little item, AOL User 927.
AOL Releases 500,000+ User Search Records
By 8.7.06
Internets are aflame overAOL ‘s publication of the search queries for 650,000+ users . This means that it shows what you typed into the AOL search engine, be it “hardball” or “hardcore.”
Calculate Your AOL Retention Bonus!
By 8.7.06
An exciting add-on for the World of AOL Retention game, The Bonus Calculator!
We (Maybe) Called The Guy Who Didn’t Want to Cancel Vincent’s Account
By 8.4.06
We think we just called up John, the AOL rep fired after giving Vincent Ferrari a hard time when he tried to cancel, a rough time that was company policy. John ain’t saying much and didn’t want to talk to us. He wouldn’t even verify his identity, but the pauses are a dead giveaway.
The Hatchet Man of AOL Retention
By 8.3.06
Here’s a little ditty about an AOL hatchet man who took a perverse pleasure in firing retention consultants.
TimeWarner Dissolves AOL Retention Centers
By 8.3.06
TimeWarner announced yesterday an AOL makeover ot make more money with less subscribers. The profit hinged on $1 billion in cost cuts mainly coming from, “the company’s extensive marketing effort to attract new customers and retain old ones,” NYT reports.
AOL Still Retaining Like A MoFugger
By 8.3.06
AOL may be free, but that didn’t stop them from calling up Matt W. in Chicago, begging him to come back. The rep offered Matt a “new” version of AOL called, “Security Edition.” After an initial “trial period,” Matt could continue using AOL for $9.95/month.
Further Confessions of Former AOL Retainers
By 8.2.06
In light of today’s news that America Online’s content and services are going free, let’s glance at a polaroid of those halcyon days and Monte Carlo nights of yesteryear.
AOL Goes Free
By 8.2.06
Confirming rumors that it itself spread, America Online formally announced plans to give away email and other previously subscriber-only service for free at AOL.com.
AOL Hates Hugs.
By 8.2.06
Although several hundred 14 year old boys lose their virginity to portly displaced man-children pretending to be women in AOL’s chat rooms every day, AOL has bigger fish to fry: the sleazy, nefarious hug. Or “((Hugs))” as it is known in AOL chat parlance, where ‘Hugs’ is replaced with the name of the recipient.
AOL Streamliner: Internet With Splenda
By 7.28.06
AOL may release a new bundled service, Streamliner, designed to straddle its old and new identities.
Phish Threatens to Cancel AOL Account… Oh No!
By 7.28.06
A phish sent around this morning threatened to suspend our AOL account if we didn’t update our records (our billing information is apparently out of order). As if.
