Comments on: AOL apologizes for release of user search data

Search log information originally intended for use on new research site; company calls data posting a mistake.

[ptkventures]

Is this a bit too late

The file has been circulated the net, and is being discussed and analzyed. Forum such as aolsearchlogs.com is setup.

[firesuite]

Hopefully!

Hopefully this is another nail being self driven into the coffin of THE worst Internet company ever.

[rcrusoe]

The worst Internet company ever?

I'm not familar with every Internet company in the world. If you
are, then perhaps you are correct, perhaps not.

But, IMO, it is a safe assumption to say they are one of the two
worst. :)

[teraphim]

AOL will use the Kaiser Permanente strategy

Since the data has been widely mirrored, AOL will next find a scapegoat so the public will be more worried about those villains that dared to point out the problem and mirror the evidence.

Here is the instant recipe:

1) PR department reaches out to their media contacts. Journalists then tell sensationalist story of "hackers" or "bloggers" who mirrored *your* private data. AOL worms out of responsibility for letting the data loose in the first place by declaring war on the evil bloggers.

2) Now that there's no public support for the blogger, AOL can safely trick a government agency into publicly denouncing the blogger. Since the blogger is clearly a danger to public safety, the government is allowed to ignore all applicable law. After all their heart was in the right place, and that matter's more than an individual's rights. Also, since the press is already committed to portraying the blogger as a villain, the government knows that they will never have to apologize if they make a mistake. The press has a vested interest not to report the error.

3) Next AOL's team of corporate lawyers will file a lawsuit. It doesn't matter if the lawsuit is frivolous - they are after the PR value of "prosecuting on behalf of the public", and reinforcing to the media that the blogger who dared link to the info is the evil one. If the blogger is poor, weak, and has no media platform of their own, then AOL might actually win the lawsuit by default, adding further legitimacy to their "public defender" posture.

4) The public doesn't understand that killing the messenger only guarantees successful cover ups in the future. And as far as I can tell, they don't care that there is a layer of people who corporations can calculate as having no Constitutional rights in this country (if a person can't defend their rights, they might as well not exist). AOL's "issues management" team is weaving these assumptions into their strategy.

Scapegoating worked for Kaiser Permanente. It'll work for AOL.

[agutgopostal]

Proofing

It's "peek", not "peak". Does anyone proof these articles besides using spellcheck? Major news article, lots of hits, and you lost the mental majority right at the end.

[talledega500]

please...learn about search proxies

THere are many and most are free

heres one.

http://www.blackboxsearch.com

[mlssry]

Field Day for Hackers

"Although there was no personally identifiable data linked to these accounts....."
This is an absolute lie. I did random searches in the database and just 10 minutes ago was able to sign into someones admin account for a forum on a well know website. Also sitting in front of me are a bunch of name, YES REAL NAMES, first and last with their corresponding "anonymous" user id's. This is unbelievable!

[mastershake_phd]

Download the data here

Download the data here:
http://mysite.verizon.net/laurin99/aol.htm