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Dangerous Search Engines ? AOL and Others

AOL had recently published search histories of more than 650,000 of its users. The fact that it is possible should remind those of us who had forgotten that the information you type in online may not be as private as we think. Search engines place a multibillion-dollar infrastructure at the hands of any random user who stops by their Web site.

However, the price you have to pay is that the company may hold on to your search queries, which can provide a glimpse into your private life. The question is: why do search engines do that? First of all, there is no law that requires search companies to delete your search terms, and there are some business justifications for keeping them around at least a little while. For example, keeping detailed records can help in identifying click fraud (faking clicks on Web ads to drive up a rival`s costs), and in optimizing search results for different geographic areas.

Compiling a user profile can aid in tailoring search results in products like Google Personalized Search. Also, disk storage is cheap, and engineers tend to prefer to keep data rather than delete it. But it`s hardly clear that a compelling reason exists for keeping older records, unless a customer voluntarily chooses options like personalization. Let us hope, nevertheless, that because of the negative press AOL received, the company is not likely to do the same thing anytime soon.