Telstra has revealed the addition of almost one million new mobile services in the six months to December 2011, but Sensis revenues plummeted 24 percent in 12 months.
It was supposed to be a service to help the online research community learn more about how people search for information on the web. Instead in what must be described as one of the most publicly embarrassing security breaches in recent memory, Time Warner owned ISP AOL has potentially compromised the privacy of 658,000 of its members.
AOL, which has publicly admitted its error, posted the details of 20
million private search queries conducted earlier this year on a site
that was intended for academics but turned out to be freely available
to the public.
In fact, so freely available was the data, that it was copied and
reposted around the web by bloggers before AOL realised its mistake and
took the data down. Now, the unfortunate 658,000 AOL members are doomed
to have their private search information displayed for the world to see
and AOL is powerless to correct its mistake.
The most disturbing aspect of the episode is that each search query was
labelled with a numeric identification number which could enable online
investigators to discover the identities of the searchers, what they
searched for and in some cases intimate details about the individuals.
The episode raises the question of whether it is acceptable for search
engine providers to store information about the private searches
conducted by individuals on the web.
Most web surfers assume that the queries in the searches they conduct
are completely anonymous. However, the AOL episode shows that every
search that every user has ever conducted on the web is potentially a
traceable and possibly damaging piece of information.
It is understandable that search engines want to store information
about searches so that they can discern trends to help them improve
their search engine marketing and search optimisation. After all,
that's the business they're in. However, what is not acceptable and a
clear breach of privacy is recording information linking searches to
users.
As far as 658,000 unfortunate AOL members are concerned, it is not
clear what their options are. No doubt, however, in the land of
litigation there may soon be some enterprising members of the Bar
putting up their hands to make suggestions.
David Bass
| For the fourth year in a row, IDC has placed content security provider Websense (NASDAQ: WBSN) at the top of the IDC Worldwide Web Security 2011 –…
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