Linked list: Search engines: the loose-lipped confidante

Who hasn't typed a keyword question into a search engine they wouldn't dare ask their best friend or doctor? I mean, why not? Somewhere out in the vast online world is the answer - or some bogus information that pacifies you for the time being - and it is anonymous...right? Don't be fooled! These search engines are backstabbing little friends. They can turn on you at a moment's notice and announce all your little indiscretions to anyone who cares. A recent entry on gawker.com explores the autofill feature on Google that suggests what you might be searching for based on previous searches. Although this broadcasts previous keyword searches, the benefit of anonymity is still present.* But this article made me think back to the AOL search leak from 2006: 3 months of AOL searches were accidentally published showing not only search keywords, but user ID and dates. Piecing this information together showed an intriguing and very telling insight into the lives of these users. Even today the keyword searches are fascinating to peruse (and, yes, the files are well preserved online in both raw and well-documented forms) and have even inspired a play (of course). In my humble opinion, one of the funniest write-ups documenting the leaked information was on somethingawful.com.** Enjoy other's follies/queries and pledge to start searching your most intimate questions on some random computer!

*well...those smartie pants at Google have enough information about me that they could easily create some kind of android that would fool even my closest loved ones. To answer the question, though, they do log all searches and identifying information such as 'Internet Protocol address, browser type, browser language, the date and time of your request and one or more cookies that may uniquely identify your browser.' (courtesy of Google privacy FAQ)

**Not suitable for work due to content. Also, I guarantee you will be laughing out loud.