AoL Technology Chief And Two others Fired over Privacy Lapse

CYBER WARS

by Staff Writers
New York (AFP) Aug 22, 2006
AoL's chief technology officer and two other employees have been fired after the company revealed private search terms of more than 650,000 of its users on a public website, a source said Monday.

AoL would say only that chief technology officer (CTo) Maureen Govern had left the Internet giant, after 20 million keyword searches by its users were accidentally posted online.

The source, who requested anonymity, said Govern had been dismissed and was being replaced for now by her predecessor, John McKinley, who is AoL's president for digital services.

"To help ensure this type of incident never happens again two employees who released the data and the supervisor (Govern) have been fired," the source said.

AoL admitted two weeks ago to a "screw-up" after the search data was published on a new company website designed to help search-technology researchers.

only a few hundred of the searches contained sensitive information such as credit card and Social Security numbers, but observers have underlined that all the data passed on was a violation of privacy.

The Time Warner unit's chief executive, Jonathan Miller, said in an e-mail to employees that a task force had been set up to review AoL's privacy practices.

"I wanted to let you know that Maureen Govern, our chief technology officer, has decided to leave AoL effective immediately. We've asked John McKinley to step back in as CTo, and he has graciously accepted," Miller's memo said.

"We've put together a four-part plan that is being implemented immediately and which we believe will further enhance our privacy policy and practices," he said.

The searches were identified only by anonymous user-ID numbers, making identification difficult. But the company said it pulled the information it had collected from March to May off the website after bloggers became aware of it.

AoL said earlier this month that it was likely to lay off about 5,000 employees, or a quarter of its workforce, in the next six months as it fights off stiff competition from Yahoo and Google.

AoL is also planning to stop charging broadband users for e-mail and multimedia services as part of a drive to revamp itself.

Source: Agence France-Presse

CYBER WARS

Analysis: Legislating the NSA program now

Washington (UPI) Aug 18, 2006
The ruling by a federal judge in Detroit that the administration's program of warrantless electronic surveillance is unlawful and unconstitutional has thrown into confusion a whole series of congressional efforts to give the program a legislative basis.

SUPERPOWERS Russian Military To Practice Repelling Invasion From East Is The CIS Getting Divorced F-22 Raptor To Be Deployed To The Northern Pacific US Department Of Defense In Cash Crunch	NUKEWARS Seoul Agrees To Big Aid Package For North, Steps Up Nuclear Monitoring Iran Stages Massive Military War Games No Indication Of North Korea Nuclear Plan Says Russia North Korea May Be Preparing Nuclear Test
MISSILE NEWS Iran Tests Tactical Missile During War Games Raytheon Company Awarded $266M Standard Missile-3 Contract More Delays On MANPADs Seoul puzzled as North Korean missile disappears	MISSILE DEFENSE BMD Focus: Japan's long road on BMD Britain Is Potential Site For US Missile Defence System General To Recommend US Missile Defense Sites In Europe Soon BMD Watch: BAE develops JETEYE for DHS
AEROSPACE US Sanctions On Russia Could Hurt Boeing Boeing Puts Aircraft Market At 2.6 Trillion Dollars Innovative Solutions Make Transportation Systems Safer Secure and Efficient Joint Strike Fighter Is Not Flawed Finds Australian Government	UAV NEWS New Electric Propulsion Motor Systems for UAVs Developed by Bental Industries Global Hawk Flies High Sees All in Rim of the Pacific Navy Exercise New Electric Propulsion Motor Systems for UAVs Developed by Bental Industries Lockheed Martin's Unmanned Systems Technology Ready To Address Future Needs
IRAQ WARS Benchmarks: Insurgents Keep Up Pressure Leaks Likely On Iraq National Intelligence Estimate Outside View: Where U.S. Generals Failed Controversy Dogs Iraq Estimate	MILTECH Raytheon Dramatically Improves Troposcatter Bandwidth Lockheed Martin Demonstrates Volume Search Radar Antenna For US Navy DDG-1000 Program DARPA Asks Raytheon To Develop Radar For Integrated Sensor Is Structure Program Army Must Afford FCS

The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2006 - SpaceDaily.AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA PortalReports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additionalcopyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement