This goes way beyond “Oops.”
http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/08/06/aol-proudly-releases-massive-amounts-of-user-search-data/
AOL Proudly Releases Massive Amounts of Private Data
Michael Arrington August 6 2006
Further Update: Sometime after 7 pm the download link went down as well, but there is at least one mirror site. AOL is in damage control mode - the fact that they took the data down shows that someone there had the sense to realize how destructive this was, but it is also an admission of wrongdoing of sorts. Either way, the data is now out there for anyone that wants to use (or abuse) it.
Update: Sometime around 7 pm PST on Sunday, the AOL site referred to below was taken down. The direct link to the data is still live. A cached copy of the page is here.
AOL must have missed the uproar over the DOJ’s demand for “anonymized” search data last year that caused all sorts of pain for Microsoft and Google. That’s the only way to explain their release of data that includes 20 million web queries from 650,000 AOL users.
The data includes all searches from those users for a three month period this year, as well as whether they clicked on a result, what that result was and where it appeared on the result page. It’s a 439 MB compressed download, expanded to just over 2 gigs. The data is available here (this link is directly to the file) and the output is in ten text files, tab delineated.
The utter stupidity of this is staggering. AOL has released very private data about its users without their permission. While the AOL username has been changed to a random ID number, the abilitiy to analyze all searches by a single user will often lead people to easily determine who the user is, and what they are up to. The data includes personal names, addresses, social security numbers and everything else someone might type into a search box.
The most serious problem is the fact that many people often search on their own name, or those of their friends and family, to see what information is available about them on the net. Combine these ego searches with porn queries and you have a serious embarrassment. Combine them with “buy ecstasy” and you have evidence of a crime. Combine it with an address, social security number, etc., and you have an identity theft waiting to happen. The possibilities are endless.
Marketers are going nuts over the possibilities, users are calling for a boycott of AOL, and others are just enraged:
User 491577 searches for “florida cna pca lakeland tampa”, “emt school training florida”, “low calorie meals”, “infant seat”, and “fisher price roller blades”. Among user 39509’s hundreds of searches are: “ford 352″, “oklahoma disciplined pastors”, “oklahoma disciplined doctors”, “home loans”, and some other personally identifying and illegal stuff I’m going to leave out of here. Among user 545605’s searches are “shore hills park mays landing nj”, “frank william sindoni md”, “ceramic ashtrays”, “transfer money to china”, and “capital gains on sale of house”. Compared to some of the data, these examples are on the safe side. I’m leaving out the worst of it - searches for names of specific people, addresses, telephone numbers, illegal drugs, and more. There is no question that law enforcement, employers, or friends could figure out who some of these people are.
There is some really scary stuff in this data.
I am assuming that AOL will take this page and the data down soon, but as of the time of this post it has been downloaded 809 times already. People I’ve spoken with are already building a web interface to the data. If you are an AOL customer, I feel sorry for you.
Note that Microsoft has proposed releasing similar data to researchers, although with an important difference - the data is not associated with a user. Excite released data very similar to what AOL has done here, with user associations, in 1999.
AOL is hitting bottom when it comes to brand image. This story comes on the heels of the recorded phone call with customer service disaster as well as a just-in story about a woman who is unable to cancel her deceased father’s AOL account, nine months after his death.
http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~dangelo/aol-search-query-logs/
AOL Releases Search Logs from 500,000 Users
Adam D'Angelo - 8/5/2006
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Aol Releases Googles most prized Keyword List… Google is gonna get mega spammed.
****UPDATE**** Search data shows users planning to commit murder!!!.
I’m shocked that AOL released this data, Google is going to be pissed, this is because AOL search is just google search rebranded.
http://research.aol.com/pmwiki/pmwiki.php?n=Research.500kUserQueriesSampledOver3Months
The big affiliate marketers will make millions off this, i’m already busy processing the data, and after taking a quick peak at the data its an absolute gold mine for PPC and SEO.
Tools & Techniques OR "Whatever you say, Mom and Dad..."
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/08/06/1432222&from=rss
Proxy Sites Offer Secret Passage to Myspace
Posted by CmdrTaco on Sunday August 06, @11:12AM from the big-shocker dept. Security The Internet
JafSquared writes "As sites like MySpace.com gain popularity in young adults, schools all over are finding that taking measures to keep kids blocked out of these websites is becoming increasingly difficult. As this hype continues, proxy servers such as "Box of Prox" are springing up like wildfire. While system admins furiously work to diminish the strain placed on their school's local networks from sites like MySpace, these proxy sites are enabling easy access to restricted areas. However, schools aren't the only places that are feeling the heat. Proxies have also been becoming a bit of a complication in the workplace. To the more advanced user, the proxy server can become a tool for malicious intent as this article, delivering an anecdote with the termination of an employee, so poignantly details."
I doubt Osama would target the power grid. Terrorists want to generate terror, not a bunch of ticked-off citizens who can't run their air conditioner...
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/08/06/133203&from=rss
Does the NSA Need More Electricity?
Posted by CmdrTaco on Sunday August 06, @09:26AM from the paranoid-much-lately dept. Privacy Power
An anonymous reader writes "The Baltimore sun (NSA watchers can't live without it) reports that the NSA worries about overloading the Baltimore energy grid if it were to install new computing capacity at it's Fort Meade HQ. This includes two multi million dollar supercomputers. Some systems are reportedly not getting the cooling they need. The temperature in NSA buildings is raised two degrees to conserve energy, according to the article. The NSA is Baltimore Gas and Electric`s (BGE) biggest customer the sun reports. Former NSA employees fear that a power outage at Fort Meade would have worse consequences than the 2000 "information overload" related outage. The NSA does apparently not have the backup power generation capacity to power the whole facility during power outages. Some point a finger at a new mall build in the area, but a BGE spokesman says the mall is "fairly easily accommodated". Some sources say the problem was identified in the late 90`s. But "keeping the lights on" wasn't a priority. A $4 million computer upgrade to the system that allocates power was postponed for budgetary reasons. (the NSA budged is estimated at $8 Billion) The article reports that the budget documents for listening posts around the world report similar infrastructural problems, in the budgets for 07 as well as previous years. It should be noted that the huge "groundbreaker" IT infrastructure upgrade program is reportedly over budget and late, but not yet fully operational."
This article is trivial, but it suggests their might be a large readership for basic information (that must be updated every few weeks). Anyone interested?
http://www.allbusiness.com/articles/Legal/1379-35-1803.html
What Is and Isn't Legal to Use on a Web Site?
It's 8-to-5 the little guy wins..
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/03/AR2006080301390.html
Against All Odds
Antigua Besting U.S. in Internet Gambling Case at WTO
By Paul Blustein Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, August 4, 2006; Page D01
Locked in a federal prison in the Nevada desert, tortured by the distant lights of the Las Vegas strip, Jay Cohen couldn't stop thinking about getting even with the government that had put him away -- and his revenge fantasy had a unique twist.
U.S. prosecutors put Cohen behind bars in 2002 for running an Internet gambling site in the Caribbean country of Antigua and Barbuda. Not long before the prison gates clanged shut, he had learned that the federal crackdown on online betting might violate global trade rules.
So he got Antigua and Barbuda to instigate a complaint at the World Trade Organization. "It kind of helped keep my spirits up," he said.
Fast forward: Antigua and Barbuda, population 69,000, is winning. The case has become an embarrassment to Washington, one that could result in economic pain. It isn't quite over, but the world's only superpower may have to capitulate to a country whose entire population could easily fit into the Rose Bowl.
... Gambling was legal in Antigua, so Cohen and his buddies figured they would have no problem operating a business that took sports bets from people in the United States. Between golf rounds and fishing trips, they built World Sports Exchange Ltd., one of several dozen Internet betting parlors then springing up in Antigua and elsewhere.
They booked millions of dollars in wagers, mostly on football games and other sporting events in the United States. The industry boomed, becoming Antigua's second-largest employer, after tourism. "Life was fine," Cohen recalled.
Isn't this begging litigation? What if my legitimate site is harmed because your program flags it “potentially evil?”
http://news.com.com/2100-7349_3-6102529.html
Google puts up 'Beware of malware' signs
By Ina Fried Story last modified Mon Aug 07 04:53:07 PDT 2006
Google has started warning people when search results could potentially lead them to malicious code.
The search giant is using data from the Stop Badware Coalition to flag sites that are potentially host to malicious software. Google, along with Sun Microsystems and Chinese PC maker Lenovo, announced support for the group in January.
People who attempt to go to a Web site that has been identified as risky by the coalition are taken to a warning page.
"Warning--the site you are about to visit may harm your computer!" the page states in bold type, then suggesting users can "learn more about malware and how to protect yourself at StopBadware.org."
The interrupt page suggests that users can try returning to the search page and choosing a different result, trying another search, or they can continue to the potentially malicious site.
"We're not going to say don't do it," said John Palfrey, a professor at the Harvard Law School and one of the driving forces behind the effort. "What we want to do is basically give people some more information about what might happen to their computer."
Harvard has teamed with Britain's Oxford University to provide much of the manpower for the coalition's Web-monitoring effort. People can report sites that have malicious code on them, and then a human being checks the report before any sites are flagged, Palfrey said.
Palfrey likens the effort to a "Neighborhood Watch" program. Sites in question are not removed from search engines, but the idea is that users are warned of potential problems. Although the Stop Badware Coalition has been working closely with Google, Palfrey said he would like to see other search engines tap its watch list as well.
"We very much encourage other search engines to join and use the data in the same way," he said. "We're quite open."
A Google representative was not immediately available for comment.
Stopbadware.org is one of a number of coalitions aiming to stop the spread of malicious code. Initially, the group was focused on merely identifying bad programs, but not necessarily on working on which sites distributed the code.
"The initial idea was to say that law in the ordinary sense of the word has not been doing a good job with these highly distributed problems--spyware or viruses or spam," Palfrey said.
How can we use this?
http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/012047.html
August 04, 2006
GPO Takes Major Step Toward Creating Digital Information
The U.S. Government Printing Office encourages you to contribute information about your institution's digitization projects containing U.S. Government publications to the Registry of U.S. Government Publication Digitization Projects."
Eventually, every word in the English language will have at least a double meaning...
http://techdirt.com/articles/20060807/0056214.shtml
Internet Culture Makes Formerly Fine License Plate Obscene
from the way-to-go,-internet dept
For many years, of course, it's been common for internet users to make use of various shortcuts or acronyms to make common phrases much faster to type. While this "txt" speak may not harm anyone's grammar skills it has certainly introduced some new "words" into every day use. As submitted by Jon, it seems that's a problem for the 74-year-old woman in Ohio who had the vanity license plate: NWTF. To her, it meant "NorthWood Tree Farm," the business she owns. Apparently the youngsters at the motor vehicle bureau identified it more closely with internet usage of "wtf," usually meaning "what the f***." The N presents a bit of a problem, as it doesn't appear that many people use "nwtf," so the motor vehicle bureau just tacked on a "now" before the wtf -- and then rejected her renewal application for the license plate she's had for about a decade, telling her it broke the rules for obscenity on vanity plates. Of course, the folks at the National Wild Turkey Federation may have a thing or two to say about that.
Let your local geek know about this!
http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/
Ultimate Boot CD
Overview
Current release: 3.4
For those of you interested in a Windows version of the Ultimate Boot CD, you might want to check out this project initiated by Ben Burrows.
Ultimate Boot CD is completely free for the download, or could be obtained for small fee. If you had somehow paid a ridiculous amount of money for it, you have most likely been fleeced. The least you could do is to make as many copies of the offical UBCD and pass it to your friends, relatives, colleagues or even complete strangers to minimize the per unit cost of your loss!
It's hard to believe we have come so far in only 15 years... Remember, Paul Romer says it takes at least 20 for technologies to integrate. Has that accelerated?
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/happy_birthday_www.php
August 06, 2006 / 3 comments
Happy Birthday World Wide Web!
15 years ago today, Tim Berners-Lee publicly released his WWW project onto the Internet. According to Wikipedia:
"On August 6, 1991, he [TBL] posted a short summary of the World Wide Web project on the alt.hypertext newsgroup. This date also marked the debut of the Web as a publicly available service on the Internet."
As the Wikipedia states, this was the point when hypertext was married to the Internet.
The original alt.hypertext posting is still available, thanks to Google Groups:
"The WWW project merges the techniques of information retrieval and hypertext to make an easy but powerful global information system."
Also note that Berners-Lee made available the first Web browser - "prototype (very alpha test) simple line mode browser" - and the first hypertext editor. For, you know, reading and writing on the Web ;-)
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