AOL search log

AOL also figured in in one of 2006's bigger privacy scandals when it published the search histories of more than 650,000 of its users . Even though AOL apologized and removed the file from its Web site, the database had already been mirrored, exposing life stories expressed in some 21 million search queries.

The database did not include names or user identities. But it did list a unique ID number for each user thus making it possible to view the search terms that users of a single account typed in while using AOL Search during a three-month period.