Glad I don't use AOL!!

[Stormieweather]

We're on to you, Number 10080615
And so is everyone else, after AOL posts users' private soul searchings and quirky questions on the Internet. Oh, they took it off. Too late.
By JOHN BARRY, Deputy Floridian Editor
Published August 15, 2006

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No. 1197042 plunges into the glow of her computer. Try to imagine her. It's almost midnight, she's alone, again. She doesn't feel well. She worries about her heart, pancreas, liver, spine. She longs to be thin, she longs for someone to love.

She types these search words into AOL: "win gastric bypass; does any insurance cover gastric bypass; are there grants for gastric bypass."

Then she pauses; she starts typing again: "american idol; chris daughtry; bio for chris daughtry; chris daughtry's wife; photos of chris daughtry's wife. "

No. 1197042 and 650,000 other America Online users had no idea their most intimate worries and longings - articulated in computer searches in March, April and May - would be exposed to the world.

AOL recently put them on the Web, replacing each of the customers' screen names with a number. It said the records of 36-million Web searches by its unknowing customers were intended for academic study. Then it removed them from the Web and apologized.

But the records had already made their way into blog land for anyone to see. More than 190 included their Social Security numbers.

They offer a glimpse into private worlds. You can't help but picture what these people must be like, how they live, who they love, the unspoken, sometimes unspeakable things they yearn for.

And you can't help but feel uneasy when their secrets are revealed.

You see people's longings, desires and agonies, and those all-too-familiar interior demons that Joseph Conrad described in Heart of Darkness: "the devil of violence, and the devil of greed, and the devil of hot desire."

* * *


No. 118401 goes looking for Barbie Benton. Remember her? She was Hugh Hefner's playmate way back when. Then 118401 searches for a Calvin Klein alpaca coat, arts and crafts mission furniture, and the number of calories in a single M&M.

He or she checks out real estate in Aspen, restaurants in Buffalo, and skiing in Beaver Creek. Then 118401 types: "arnold naked schwarzenegger" and "best pecan pie recipes."

* * *

No. 11055734 types, "im a muslim man with a spanish girlfriend" and then asks "what steps to take in marrying a non muslim woman."

Dozens of times in March, 11055734 wrestles with his passion: "what is love and lust," "what makes latinas so fascinating to all men" and "persian men like curvy women."

11055734 also types: "real pictures of death and suicides," "real photos of death accidents," and "real photos of death and asphyxiation."

He looks for "pictures of wicked mermaids."

* * *


No. 98280 types in "girl gone wild." Later, 98280 types "first trimester of pregnancy." A bleak mystery is born.

Who is typing? Man or woman? Maybe both, at separate times? 98280 seeks information on "diabetic's use of cocaine" and "co-dependency."

Later comes "coping with abusive spouses," and "dealing with abuse from a spouse with mental disorder."

Then: "chinese baby predictor."

98280 wants to know "how do I get an agent for acting jobs," and inquires about "discount living room furniture."

He or she seeks "bible scriptures for defeating the enemy."

And this horribly dispiriting inquiry: "how does a male's cocaine use affect a fetus."

Followed by this entry, days later: "beyonce naked pictures."

* * *

No. 10247738 types in: "can you be saved if you are a liar." He or she searches for "pathology of lying," "chronic lying," and "compulsive lying." Then seven times, he or she asks: "kirk cameron and six children."

Then: "removing breast implants."

His or her private imaginings span the globe, take fantastic twists and turns. Does 10247738 have a bad dog, long for a baby to love, live alone on a mountain surrounded by wild beasts?

10247738 asks, "why is it so difficult to adopt from china." He or she types: "vicious great dane."

He or she searches for "how to kill a bear," wonders how to knit and make goat cheese, and, for eight minutes, shops for a black lace cat suit.

After midnight on May 11, No. 10247738 types "marry a mountain man."

* * *

No. 10080615 begins by searching "florida teachers certification" on March 6. The next day, he or she looks for Braves spring training tickets.

On the 10th, 13th and 14th of March, the only thing 10080615 looks for is Victory motorcycle stores.

Then, on the 18th, someone on the same account spends six hours looking for places to have anonymous sex, either in public bathrooms or at massage parlors that offer that service.

The search for sex continues through March and April. On May 2, someone logs on to check FCAT scores.

John Barry can be reached at 727 892-2258 or jbarry@sptimes.com.

[Last modified August 15, 2006, 07:08:24]

Article link - http://sptimes.com/2006/08/15/Florid...ou__Numb.shtml


Hmm, the weird things I search for during the course of the day would make most people scratch their heads and go huh!?. I'm an administrator for a large abuse support site so I'm often looking up resources for posters there, posts here that catch my interest may start me searching, my Everquest guild keeps me busy looking for strategies, not to mention my kids and their various ailments and questions which often get the search bar humming. I stay away from porn, lyrics sites, download sites, and anything too off the wall because I have lost my computer data twice to nasty, drive by viruses from places like that. So what would the details about your searches reveal?

Stormie