Question

Cory Doctorow says: There have not yet been many instances for us to analyze the potential harmful impacts of having private search information released. One big example was the AOL disclosure where anonymizing turned out to be more difficult and subtle than anticipated. Much of the data was in fact traceable. With queries like "how to kill your wife," or "my baby's father physically abuses me," it's fairly obvious that having those queries revealed could cause real harm. Princeton's center run by Ed Felton has released several papers on anonymization of search data, showing that large amounts of data can be tracked back from theoretically anonymized sources. For example, a service that spies on children's Internet activity which is used by parents to protect them from sexual predators sells the "anonymized" IM sessions to market research companies. In many cases the data turns out not to be that anonymous after all.

Answer 1

The subject of this question is Online Privacy and Security, and the primary topic is also Online Privacy and Security. The question explores the potential harmful impacts of having private search information released.

Step-by-step explanation:

The subject of this question is Online Privacy and Security.

Online privacy and security is a growing concern as we increase our online presence. The disclosure of private search information can have harmful impacts, as seen in the AOL case where anonymizing was more difficult than expected. Research has shown that large amounts of supposedly anonymized data can be traced back to individuals. This highlights the need for better understanding and protection of online privacy.

The primary topic of this question is Online Privacy and Security.