Is Analyzing AOL Search Data Ethical?

Poll

Although AOL Search Data was removed from AOL site, copies are available on the web. Analyzing AOL Search Data is: [71 votes total] Not ethical - it's an invasion of privacy (10) 14% OK only in aggregate, without any user ID (34) 48% OK, if private and sensitive searches are somehow removed (17) 24% OK without restrictions - other people are doing it (10) 14%

Editor, AOL Search Data
Although AOL removed its search strings from its web site, they are still available from many mirror sites.

In most cases, there is nothing special in the queries, but some queries can lead to identifying specific people and invasion of privacy.

Some researchers say any analysis of AOL data is unethical, while some hackers have set web sites offering search interfaces to AOL data.