"As Thelma explained, it can be misleading to believe all searches say something about her personality... ’cause she’d often research something for friends."

Between Google Answers and That Other Project, I'd hate to see what people thought of MY personality based on my search history.

I'd probably get arrested.

Think of it this way... if ever you DO commit a crime, you have a great alibi!

"In response, she plans to drop her AOL subscription. “We all have a right to privacy,” she said. “Nobody should have found this all out.”

> "In response, she plans to drop her AOL subscription. “We all have a right to privacy,” she said. “Nobody should have found this all out.”

That will really show them.

I'm not a big fan of law suites, but could there be merit in one based on this?

Tony

I knew it was only a matter of time. People routinely search for their own name and look up locations in their zip code. There should be a class action lawsuit, although I'm guessing AOL has covered themselves pretty well in their user agreement.

You can search for this lady at http://www.dontdelete.com. Type in 4417749 and you see what Thelma was looking at.

I believe this is great that this information came out. I have to feel bad for Thelma and whoever elses information gets released but at least it brings up major issues. Crimes can easily be prevented if this information is released. I know this may go against the 1st amendment but if you do a random search on dontdelete you will find many disturbing people.

If this sort of information was more widely available, then nobody would dare to research illegal topics. There goes the freedom of the Internet...

JohnH writes:

"Crimes can easily be prevented if this information is released."

   I looked up [ "hit and run penalties" Ohio] the other day. Should I be visited by the police for that?

Your statement is ridiculous.