AOL is being sued by three subscribers whose records of internet searches were made publicly available online.
From what we can tell, this is the first lawsuit to become publicly known since AOL released more than 19 million search requests by more than 650,000 subscribers over a three-month time span. The suit was filed last Friday in the District Court of Oakland and does not mention how much the three people are seeking in damages. As for just how much data had been taken by AOL, the company admits that they substituted customer names with ID numbers instead, although the search queries themselves could have obtained information such as credit card numbers, medical conditions and other information. Search engines often keep subscriber information to help refine their searches and service. AOL has been playing a risky game lately in an effort to increase profits and stay alive. In April of this year the company officially changed their name from America Online to AOL and then decided to drop their subscriber fees in exchange for an advertising driven model.
