Wednesday, September 27, 2006
AOL Search Data Lawsuits Arrive
Well that did not take long, but I would expect nothing less. AOL's first class action lawsuit has been announced seeking $3.25 Billion.
http://news.com.com/2061-10803_3-6119218.html?part=rss&tag=6119218&subj=news
and
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB115925623918674125.html?mod=mm_media_marketing_hs_left
As I discussed on this blog, AOL Search Data for Advertising 2.0, AOL exposed a great deal of personal information. My hope, at the time, was that the release of this data was an evil act by a leaving employee. The data was made public the same week that AOL announced mass layoffs following their move to a free service. If this was an act of sabotage, AOL would be fined but could deny wrong doing. The world would chalk this up to another case of stolen data, which is bad, but ultimately containable.
As it turns out, the release was a 'thoughtful' and purposeful endeavor. Several people have since resigned, but the legal impact is just beginning and the industry impact has yet to be felt.
My greatest concern is that the general public will continue to lose faith in legitimate online businesses due to privacy concerns. The public already has lost faith in e-mail (spam) and linking to unknown sites (banners). As far as my business is concerned, these issues have provided opportunity. But, I'm not sure where the opportunity lurks when people stop using the net for personal search.
http://news.com.com/2061-10803_3-6119218.html?part=rss&tag=6119218&subj=news
and
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB115925623918674125.html?mod=mm_media_marketing_hs_left
As I discussed on this blog, AOL Search Data for Advertising 2.0, AOL exposed a great deal of personal information. My hope, at the time, was that the release of this data was an evil act by a leaving employee. The data was made public the same week that AOL announced mass layoffs following their move to a free service. If this was an act of sabotage, AOL would be fined but could deny wrong doing. The world would chalk this up to another case of stolen data, which is bad, but ultimately containable.
As it turns out, the release was a 'thoughtful' and purposeful endeavor. Several people have since resigned, but the legal impact is just beginning and the industry impact has yet to be felt.
My greatest concern is that the general public will continue to lose faith in legitimate online businesses due to privacy concerns. The public already has lost faith in e-mail (spam) and linking to unknown sites (banners). As far as my business is concerned, these issues have provided opportunity. But, I'm not sure where the opportunity lurks when people stop using the net for personal search.
