The Ghosts of Glasnost

What you may know: At the beginning of August, AOL released the search history data from 658,000 of its subscribers. While individual names or user IDs were not linked to specific searches, privacy advocacy groups worried that the data could be used to identify and target AOL customers. Under heavy criticism, AOL removed the search logs from public access.

What you may not know: Before AOL could censor the data, numerous websites and torrents mirrored the search query logs, allowing anyone access to the information.

The only thing more disturbing than AOL's cavalier breach of privacy are the actual queries.

Organized solely by the loose author function of a unique user ID, phantasmagoric narratives begin to emerge from the data.

I won't repeat them here (in case you are having a particularly pleasant day), but for those who want a glimpse into the unsettling private lives of AOL users, take a look at the 'funny' and 'popular' users on AOLStalker.