There is a NY Times report on August 9, 2006 titled as A Face Is Exposed for AOL Searcher No. 4417749. A lady in Georgia was identified and a photo of her was put on the NY Times website too. Here is how her identity was discovered. The searcher No. 4417749 searches “landscapers in Lilburn, Ga”, “homes sold in shadow lake subdivision gwinnett county georgia”, “retirement communities for single women”, multiple times “eugene oregon jaylene arnold” or “jarrett t. arnold”. An investigator, maybe a reporter, came to the town of Liburn, GA and checked several people with the name Arnolds. Thelma Arnold, a 62-year-old widow who lives in Lilburn, then said ““Those are my searches,” after the report read part of the list to her.
Privacy is a serious issue of personalized search research. Put the personalized search on the client side can alleviate the privacy concern.
