AOL EFF FTC

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is asking the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to force AOL to help the people whose search records it recently released.

In a complaint filed Monday, the EFF requests that the FTC investigate the incident and have AOL notify, via electronic and postal mail, all affected persons that their search results were released.

AOL should also pay for at least one year of credit monitoring service for each person, because the release of the records puts these people at risk for identity theft, the EFF charges. The EFF is a nonprofit organization focused on protecting civil liberties in technology contexts, such as computing and the Internet.

More at Macworld

searching…

So want to know what people are seaching for? Well okay people using AOL are searching for.
Interestingly the outrage caused by this lapse in privacy by making this information available (and if you have no idea what I am talking about there is a link here) is nothing compared to the other information you can gleen from this data.

AOL Search is powered by google. It’s branded as such. Yet there are over 180,000 searches for … google or it’s varients.

Useful links
research.aol.com
New York Times article
AOL Search Database
AOL Search Logs
Black Box Search – Anonymous proxy searching for Google, MSN and Yahoo!

Abercrombie & Wills? Jack & Fitch?

Stuart & Tom naked showering but still selling clothing[/caption]

Okay pop quiz. Is the above picture from;

a) Abercrombie & Fitch
b) Jack & Fitch
c) Jack Wills
d) Abercrombie & Wills

I wear A&F almost exclusively. Most people who know me already know this. Whilst I was in Brighton at the weekend I stumbled into a store that looked like A&F, smelt like A&F yet wasn’t A&F.
Jack Wills has an almost identical visual identity to the large US based store. It’s even a very similar font style. The store has a very similar feel, white painted wood and rich carpeting. The website has a similar feel. Even the obligatory lifestyle section filled with beautiful semi naked models. In fact I’m failing to see what item of clothing Stuart and Tom are selling in the picture above ;o)

Anyway since the Abercrombie store is yet to open in Bond Street and it’s always nice to diversify ones wardrobe every now and then I’ve ordered myself a catalogue in case I see an item or two I’d like to purchase.