AOL Releases Search Logs of 657,427 Users

AOL Releases Search Logs of 657,427 Users 346

Posted by timothy on Monday August 07, 2006 @04:41PM from the give-or-take dept.

An anonymous reader writes "AOL has released the search logs of over 650,000 users for research purposes. This looks like it may become a public relations disaster for AOL, as well as a privacy nightmare for the users involved as Michael Arrington of TechCrunch notes: "AOL has released very private data about its users without their permission. While the AOL username has been changed to a random ID number, the ability to analyze all searches by a single user will often lead people to easily determine who the user is, and what they are up to. The data includes personal names, addresses, social security numbers and everything else someone might type into a search box." This is also being covered on The Paradigm Shift and Oh My News." fantomas adds " Looks like they've just taken it down but it's still available on The Pirate Bay; not sure why but some of the academic researchers are going crazy musing the ethical aspects of letting the world know who's searching for how to kill their wives ..." Update: 08/07 21:32 GMT by T : amromousa writes "AOL is now apologizing for the release ..., calling it a "screw-up," which they're upset and angry about."

AOL Releases Search Logs of 657,427 Users

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Damn (Score:1, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Monday August 07, 2006 @04:44PM (#15861325)

Oh crap. And I just used my search engine to find Slashdot.

Re:Searching for SSN's?? (Score:5, Funny)

by RonnyJ ( 651856 ) writes: on Monday August 07, 2006 @04:46PM (#15861338)

AOL users! ;)

it's a geographic location! (Score:5, Funny)

by krell ( 896769 ) writes: on Monday August 07, 2006 @04:48PM (#15861354) Journal

You insentive clod! The end of the world is a geographic location! Not everyone has been sold on the junk science of the round earth!

Hopefully Google takes note (Score:5, Funny)

by zibix ( 654122 ) writes: on Monday August 07, 2006 @04:48PM (#15861357)

I hope that Google will now mark aol.com as an unsafe website to visit.

Re:finally, maybe users will wake up (Score:4, Funny)

by 'nother poster ( 700681 ) writes: on Monday August 07, 2006 @04:49PM (#15861365)

(So, how many wives are either not going to be home tonight, or are going to fix hubby his very favorite dish?)

I bet the guy works for Rockstar games and is simply researching their next big hit. "Slap the Ho!" Where you put up with yo biotches shit till...

Re:finally, maybe users will wake up (Score:5, Funny)

by Richy_T ( 111409 ) writes: on Monday August 07, 2006 @04:50PM (#15861372) Homepage

Me too.

Re:This just in (Score:4, Funny)

by neonprimetime ( 528653 ) writes: on Monday August 07, 2006 @04:52PM (#15861397)

I like that how the first sentence of the article says these research logs were posted 10 days ago, yet still somehow it JUST reached the /. front page today :-)

Re:finally, maybe users will wake up (Score:5, Funny)

by Tackhead ( 54550 ) writes: on Monday August 07, 2006 @04:53PM (#15861400)

> (So, how many wives are either not going to be home tonight, or are going to fix hubby his very favorite dish?)
You keep making oblique references to steak and cheese [urbandictionary.com]. I do not think that phrase means what you think it means.
(If it's 17556639's favorite dish, maybe his wife is looking forward to death.)

New data just released (Score:5, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Monday August 07, 2006 @04:54PM (#15861417)

657,437 searches for "how to cancel AOL"

Re:Searching for SSN's?? (Score:5, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Monday August 07, 2006 @04:59PM (#15861470)

But I thought AOL was the Internet? Now I'm confused..

Re:Killing wives? (Score:3, Funny)

by neo ( 4625 ) writes: on Monday August 07, 2006 @05:02PM (#15861502)

Sure looks like lyrics to me.

17556639 how to kill your wife
17556639 how to kill your wife
17556639 wife killer
17556639 how to kill a wife
17556639 poop
17556639 dead people
17556639 pictures of dead people
17556639 killed people
17556639 dead pictures
17556639 dead pictures
17556639 dead pictures
17556639 murder photo
17556639 steak and cheese
17556639 photo of death
17556639 photo of death
17556639 death
17556639 dead people photos
17556639 photo of dead people
17556639 www.murderdpeople.com
17556639 decapatated photos
17556639 decapatated photos
17556639 car crashes3
17556639 car crashes3
17556639 car crash photo

Re:Tracing back to a user (Score:3, Funny)

by Speedcraver ( 868818 ) writes: on Monday August 07, 2006 @05:03PM (#15861504)

I just traced all of your searches, I know who you are. You are Kevin Bacon!

User 17556639 (Score:5, Funny)

by aquatone282 ( 905179 ) writes: on Monday August 07, 2006 @05:06PM (#15861527)

FTA:

17556639 how to kill your wife
17556639 how to kill your wife
17556639 wife killer
17556639 how to kill a wife
17556639 poop
17556639 dead people
17556639 pictures of dead people
17556639 killed people
17556639 dead pictures
17556639 dead pictures
17556639 dead pictures
17556639 murder photo
17556639 steak and cheese
17556639 photo of death
17556639 photo of death
17556639 death
17556639 dead people photos
17556639 photo of dead people
17556639 www.murderdpeople.com
17556639 decapatated photos
17556639 decapatated photos
17556639 car crashes3
17556639 car crashes3
17556639 car crash photo

Mmmmmm. . . Steak and cheese. . .

Re:Searching for SSN's?? (Score:5, Funny)

by drix ( 4602 ) writes: on Monday August 07, 2006 @05:08PM (#15861542) Homepage

Well, the thought never occured to me, but I just did it. If that number is publicly accessible on the web, I want to know about it.

Unfortunately, though, Google thought I was entering a subtraction problem. The answer was -966. Now go theft my ID :-)

Re:Killing wives? (Score:2, Funny)

by lymond01 ( 314120 ) writes: on Monday August 07, 2006 @05:14PM (#15861582)

1-7-5-6, 6-3-ni-eee-ine!

Identifying some users is easier than others (Score:5, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Monday August 07, 2006 @05:15PM (#15861590)

13455621 how to fucking bury someone
13455621 funky gibbon
13455621 chair repairs seattle
13455621 addams family
13455621 OSS cancer
13455621 FUD spreading

Re:Killing wives? (Score:3, Funny)

by Hoi Polloi ( 522990 ) writes: on Monday August 07, 2006 @05:18PM (#15861608) Journal

Steak and cheese!? This man is clearly going to commit murder then suicide via hardening of the arteries.

Re:Searching for SSN's?? (Score:2, Funny)

by Donut2099 ( 153459 ) writes: on Monday August 07, 2006 @05:36PM (#15861729) Journal

No, the internet is a series of tubes. AOL is a dumptruck.

Re:14 download mirrors + BitTorrent link to the fi (Score:5, Funny)

by Yvanhoe ( 564877 ) writes: on Monday August 07, 2006 @05:40PM (#15861774) Journal

You should be logging the ips downloading the file and leak that in a few days...

Re:Killing wives? (Score:3, Funny)

by bunions ( 970377 ) writes: on Monday August 07, 2006 @05:46PM (#15861813)

... what? search the internet for photos of poop?

Re:Searching for SSN's?? (Score:5, Funny)

by fragmentate ( 908035 ) * writes: <`jdspilled' `at' `gmail.com'> on Monday August 07, 2006 @06:04PM (#15861967) Journal

I know your SSN.

It's 000-00-0966!

Re:Just like the Bush Phone Tapping (Score:3, Funny)

by dkoulomzin ( 320266 ) writes: on Monday August 07, 2006 @06:13PM (#15862053)

Smallville abortion clinic? Did this person get knocked up by Clark Kent?

Re:Funniest thing so far (Score:3, Funny)

by stnf ( 982894 ) writes: on Monday August 07, 2006 @06:41PM (#15862235)

What's your point? I'm both a third party and willing to offer her sex in a pickup.

Re:Searching for SSN's?? (Score:3, Funny)

by spiffyman ( 949476 ) writes: on Monday August 07, 2006 @07:12PM (#15862411) Homepage

Did you just notice a reference to a Will and Grace episode on Slashdot?

Re:What if he's searching for a story (Score:5, Funny)

by Fortran IV ( 737299 ) writes: on Monday August 07, 2006 @07:28PM (#15862518) Journal

...there are a lot of stories and sites that are just supposed to be obviously humorous, not actually to be a DYI guide to the subject in their title.

"A Do-Yourself-In guide"? I thought he was looking for help with murder, not suicide.

Guess how many AOLers on Slashdot?? (Score:4, Funny)

by Cutting_Crew ( 708624 ) writes: on Monday August 07, 2006 @07:58PM (#15862707)

This may surprise you but guess how many searches for slashdot or people using slashdot.

Take a look here [ballofdoom.com] for the building archive.
Ok fess up.. WHO on here is using slashdot that is an AOL lover. For a long time we have poked jokes at AOLers but it seems they are in our midst.

umm... Not that I have something to hide... (Score:1, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Monday August 07, 2006 @08:18PM (#15862820)

but how can someone search for things on the internet without leaving a trace?

Re:finally, maybe users will wake up (Score:2, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Monday August 07, 2006 @11:39PM (#15863633)

yeah, I work at google and we just toss those in every once in a while for fun. We've got a web form to submit these. I think my friend frank was responsible for "sweet as food delicious cheap dog fellatio" -- he spends all of his 20% time at disturbingrequests.google.com (only visible on our internal network)

package tracking numbers (Score:4, Funny)

by morcheeba ( 260908 ) * writes: on Tuesday August 08, 2006 @01:02AM (#15863948) Journal

I use google's package tracking number all the time -- seems like some other people enjoy this, too.

user-ct-test-collection-01.txt:11218337 http to track the status of this shipment on line please use the following;http www.fedex.com tracking action track&tracknumbers
604041010003308 2006-04-28 18:31:15
This person lives in Stamford, CT and ordered a "SL150T-12 Battery" for Home Delivery (5.0 lbs.) [fedex.com] from california. Their barcode got messed up in-transit. Left at front door. Signature Service not requested.

user-ct-test-collection-01.txt:2433634 tracking 9102013196683232299662 2006-03-19 17:33:48
Your item was delivered at 8:54 am on March 24, 2006 in CROWLEY, LA 70526.

user-ct-test-collection-01.txt:5736530 ups tracking number 1z05r57w0299803522 2006-04-12 04:01:29
Delivered on: 04/12/2006 9:59 A.M. Delivered to: SOUTH BELOIT, IL, US Service Type: 2ND DAY AIR

user-ct-test-collection-01.txt:11989465 ups tracking 1z5628500342774976 2006-05-31 17:14:22
Delivered on: 05/31/2006 6:12 P.M. Delivered to: FORT WAYNE, IN, US Service Type: GROUND

user-ct-test-collection-02.txt:2103248 tracking 91025562344468252800 2006-03-02 02:11:13
There is no record of this item.

user-ct-test-collection-02.txt:2371993 tracking 1z7e49v20341755740 2006-05-08 12:22:41
Delivered on: 05/08/2006 10:25 A.M. Delivered to: BOTHELL, WA, US Service Type: GROUND

user-ct-test-collection-02.txt:2749649 usps tracking 9121010521297356081254 2006-04-04 17:11:49
Info has been stored off-line, but USPS will send it to your email

user-ct-test-collection-02.txt:5847446 www.ups.com and enter the tracking number 1z00v4270380899979 2006-03-18 16:53:15
Delivered on: 03/20/2006 2:56 P.M. Delivered to: TEMPLE CITY, CA, US Service Type: GROUND ... and so on ...

There were about 120 searches for UPS "1Z..." numbers. I didn't bother parsing for USPS & UPS numbers, but there are plenty of those, too. I'm sure you'd be able to pull some names when the signature service is requested.

Re:Identifying some users is easier than others (Score:1, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Tuesday August 08, 2006 @04:41AM (#15864506)

Yes, I see what you mean:

13455621 developers
13455621 developers
13455621 developers
13455621 developers
13455621 developers
13455621 developers
13455621 developers
13455621 developers
13455621 developers
13455621 developers
13455621 developers
13455621 developers

Karma bonus (Score:3, Funny)

by lga ( 172042 ) writes: on Tuesday August 08, 2006 @04:49AM (#15864525) Journal

That is bizzare. All those posts that show in my history as +4, are actually +5 when I log out and look at them. Why on earth would slashdot think that hiding my karma bonus from me is a good idea? For months I thought I just didn't get one anymore.

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AOL Releases Search Logs of 657,427 Users 346

AOL Releases Search Logs of 657,427 Users More Login

AOL Releases Search Logs of 657,427 Users

Damn (Score:1, Funny)

Re:Searching for SSN's?? (Score:5, Funny)

it's a geographic location! (Score:5, Funny)

Hopefully Google takes note (Score:5, Funny)

Re:finally, maybe users will wake up (Score:4, Funny)

Re:finally, maybe users will wake up (Score:5, Funny)

Re:This just in (Score:4, Funny)

Re:finally, maybe users will wake up (Score:5, Funny)

New data just released (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Searching for SSN's?? (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Killing wives? (Score:3, Funny)

Re:Tracing back to a user (Score:3, Funny)

User 17556639 (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Searching for SSN's?? (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Killing wives? (Score:2, Funny)

Identifying some users is easier than others (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Killing wives? (Score:3, Funny)

Re:Searching for SSN's?? (Score:2, Funny)

Re:14 download mirrors + BitTorrent link to the fi (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Killing wives? (Score:3, Funny)

Re:Searching for SSN's?? (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Just like the Bush Phone Tapping (Score:3, Funny)

Re:Funniest thing so far (Score:3, Funny)

Re:Searching for SSN's?? (Score:3, Funny)

Re:What if he's searching for a story (Score:5, Funny)

Guess how many AOLers on Slashdot?? (Score:4, Funny)

umm... Not that I have something to hide... (Score:1, Funny)

Re:finally, maybe users will wake up (Score:2, Funny)

package tracking numbers (Score:4, Funny)

Re:Identifying some users is easier than others (Score:1, Funny)

Karma bonus (Score:3, Funny)

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