AOL executive leaves after breach

From : http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/5272974.stm

One of AOL's top executives has left the internet firm soon after a
privacy breach in which the search queries of 650,000 subscribers were
released.
AOL apologised for accidentally giving details of 20 million search
queries by US customers earlier this month, admitting the breach was a
"screw-up".

Although the queries were anonymous, there were fears the search
details may contain personally identifiable data.

Chief technology officer (CTO) Maureen Govern has now left the
company.

'Earning trust'

According to Reuters - which cited a company memo announcing the
changes - she has been replaced by former CTO John McKinley.

AOL has not commented on the issue.

Ms Govern oversaw the division responsible for inadvertently releasing
the search data, published on its research site.

AOL, owned by media giant Time Warner, removed the offending file but
not before copies had begun to circulate on the internet.

At the time, AOL said it was "angry" and "upset" about the breach.

The error prompted several complaints to the Federal Trade Commission
by privacy advocacy groups calling for an investigation.

According to Reuters and Associated Press, AOL is setting up a task
force to examine its data collection and retention policies.

"We have to earn their trust each and every day and with each and
every action we take," Reuters cited a memo from chief executive
Jonathan Miller as saying.






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Paul <lamewolf2004[REMOVE]@yahoo.com> wrote:

Ms Govern oversaw the division responsible for inadvertently releasing
the search data, published on its research site.

Ah, the scapegoat got pushed over the cliff...

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Firefox Fast Search http://johnbokma.com/firefox/keymarks-explained.html

__/ [ John Bokma ] on Tuesday 22 August 2006 01:26 \__

Paul <lamewolf2004[REMOVE]@yahoo.com> wrote:

Ms Govern oversaw the division responsible for inadvertently releasing
the search data, published on its research site.

Ah, the scapegoat got pushed over the cliff...

Also see:

AOL Active Virus Shield Permits Adware

,----[ Quote ]

comes with the free Kaspersky AV technology. By all reports the
application itself could not be found to serve adware (testing done by
external parties). But that is not what this article is about. It is
the end user license agreement (EULA) which has raised some eyebrows.
We find it treading adware territory, and here is why as we show via
the interesting portions from the EULA...
`----

http://www.castlecops.com/a6636-AOL_...ts_Adware.html

Or this

http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/p...1/1013/48HOURS

AOL wants to dig for spammer's gold
Man may have buried profit at parents' home

That company is in bad shape and it sppears to scrape the bottom of the
barrel. But it also pays part of my wage, so...

Best wishes,

Roy

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roy pts/7 Tue Aug 22 05:39 - 05:43 (00:04)
http://iuron.com - proposing a non-profit search engine