AOL Search Record Fallout Continues

More fallout from the AOL search records fiasco, as searcher # 4417749 has been identified as Thelma Arnold of Lilburn, Georgia.

The New York Times tracked the 62-year-old Ms. Arnold down by examining queries about home sales in her county and her search for a local landscaper. Eventually they put a name to a list of search records and contacted her to break the news that she'd been found out.

Surprisingly, Arnold has been pretty mild about the whole thing, but that's probably because the nature of her searches are fairly innocent. Searches for "hand tremors" are about as racy as it gets. Her response is that she plans to cancel her AOL subscription. No mention of a lawsuit.

For its part, AOL has apologized, again, personally to Ms. Arnold. But the company has otherwise said there's nothing it can do at this point. Fair enough, but the attitude reeks of AOL's "we wash our hands of it" approach to controversy. Just as you can be sure that more stories like the uncovered identity of AOL user # 4417749 will come out in the following days you can also safely assume that internal AOL memos are flying with stern warnings that you shouldn't get caught when you flagrantly violate the privacy of your users.

Anyone out there not cancelling their AOL account?