I hope that the case of Thelma Arnold will help clarify why the promises that “no personally identifiable information will ever be disclosed” is such a stupid promise. I’ve always found such language laughable, and this story is the sort that I’ve just been waiting to come up. Define “personally identifiable.” LOTS of things other than your name, SSN, etc. identify who you are.

NY Times Identifies Woman By Her Search Results Released by AOL

A user whose search records were released supposedly anonymously by AOL has been identified.

AOL released information on 20 million private search records earlier this week before removing the data and apologising for its actions.

The New York Times was able to trace an AOL member who appeared as user number 4417749 in the supposedly anonymous data.

The paper identified the individual as Thelma Arnold, a 62-year-old widow living in Lilburn, Georgia through the terms she searched for on AOL.

“Those are my searches,” she told the paper when it contacted her and read out some of the search terms.

Mrs Arnold said she was shocked that her search queries had been recorded and released to the public by AOL.

“My goodness, it’s my whole personal life,” she said. “I had no idea somebody was looking over my shoulder.”

Privacy policies are not worth “the paper they are printed on.”