Heads roll over AOL privacy breach

The chief technology officer of online giant AOL has resigned and two employees were fired after the firm released information from its search logs of over 600,000 users' search habits.

According to reports, an internal memo written by chief executive Jon Miller states that CTO Maureen Govern is to leave the company, to be replaced temporarily by John McKinley, head of the firm's Digital Services arm.

Although AOL had substituted users' names with ID numbers, privacy activists were outraged by last month’s data release, claiming that individuals could be identified by their search terms. The New York Times later proved this by tracking down one 62-year-old AOL user in Georgia from the data.

In a research note, Graham Titterington of analyst firm Ovum said the incident illustrated "a cavalier attitude by the search companies towards their customers and their interests".

"Users may not be able to do much about the search activities of the companies, but they will think twice before trusting their email and other services to them," he commented. "This [resignation] is a first and small step towards re-establishing the credibility of the industry, but much more is needed."