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Federal Class-Action Suit Against AOL

AOL, the major Internet service provider was sued by a law firm, in a claim to pay damages to around 650,000 of its members, whose privacy AOL has violated when posting their search query data on the Web. On September 22 the lawsuit was filed in San Francisco by Berman DeValerio Pease Tabacco Burt & Pucillo, who are acting for three AOL members. Other members, who wish to join the lawsuit, are more then welcomed by the company.

The lawsuit is a direct result of the privacy mess AOL made. Around 20 million search queries of 658,000 different AOL members was posted on July 31 on the AOL site for academic research use. Even though the names of the members were encrypted, some news media (The New York Times, for instance) was capable to identify people according to the posted information, which contained addresses, I.D. numbers and other personal data. AOL recognized its mistake and removed the postings, however, they were exposed to the public long enough in order to be reposted on other Web sites.

AOL made an apology for the revelation, which caused the dismissal of a supervisor and researcher. Maureen Govern, Chief Technology Officer, had resigned, but the company did not reveal any details about whether it was related to the issue. The law firm said that AOL, despite the apology, has done "nothing to remedy the situation" and "has neither taken steps to make secure similar information it has collected nor stopped collecting this type of information from its members".