AOL User Data

When AOL published 20 million web queries from 650,000 AOL users to the web, it was big news. As TechCrunch noted, although "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."

Stupid, stupid AOL…but that’s not what this post is about; this post is about the fun you can have with anonymous user data! Although AOL took the data down Sunday evening, mirror sites have sprung up on the net. Want to see a random user’s file? It’s kind of scary stuff, sometimes really scary. For example, the data file I viewed, user 2708, showed searches for the following: revenge tactics, the woman’s book of revenge, dirty tricks for chicks, stories of revenge, encyclopedia of revenge, underground help for revenge, voice changer, how to humiliate someone, how to make someone miserable, how to make someone crazy, how to get revenge on an old lover, makehimpay.com, makehimsweat.com, makehimsuffer.com, and much much more, including the best search of all "how to really make someone hurt for the pain they caused to someone else."

Run dude, run, whoever you are! And hide your rabbit!