Information about us often gets placed in the wrong hands and often its used in research for companies and academic purposes. This predicament is an issue that researchers face from time to time. Earlier this summer AOL researchers released three months worth of users query logs to a publicly accessible Web site (Hafner, 2006).
Access to these logs without permission should not be permitted because of people’s privacy rights. What little privacy that we have as citizens should be protected especially when the government has complete access of our every moves from phone conversations, text messages and Internet use. “Although these logs of 650,000 AOL users were not personally identified in the data, the logs contained enough information to discern an individual’s identity in some cases” (Hafner, 2006). Its one thing to use data on people but what happens if this data gets placed in the wrong hands? Then people will have to be concerned with identity theft. Its bad enough that someone can drive by your home if your Internet connection is not secured and steal your information and people have to avoid scams on a day-to-day basis.
If I were to put the shoe on the other foot, then I would have to say that I understand why researchers would want to use the AOL logs to better understand how we surf the Web. In the “Researchers Yearn to Use AOL Logs, but They Hesitate”, their are valid points made about why information in these logs can be useful in academic research. I think that companies such as Google should look at academia as an opportunity for synergy, not be selfish with their research. By sharing, Academia profits in their research and Google gets more hits on the Web.
These AOL logs according to a one professor an invasion, ”the AOL data is more like a real violation” (Hafner, 2006). Just what exactly constitutes a “real violation”. If people have not given their consent to use their information its wrong to do it anyway. The more access that is granted the less rights we have and people’s lives will begin to be exposed in tabloids. By making these AOL logs public where people con potentially be identified, we are giving the media and researchers complete access to our lives with no restrictions.
