Michael Santo of RealTechNews writes:

In another of those “I’m not surprised” type stories, AOL has been sued over the release of search data for 650,000 users which occurred in August. The suit was filed in California, which could complicate matters since it’s unclear how many users out of the 650,000 reside in California.

The suit was filed in federal court for the Northern District of California by the law firm of Berman, DeValiero, Pease, Tabacco, Burt & Pucillo of San Francisco. It accuses AOL of violating the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, plus several California consumer and advertising laws.

In seeking class action status, the suit asks for no less than $1,000 in compensation to those nationwide for violations of federal law, and an additional $4,000 in damages to those in California under the state’s own laws. [Source: BetaNews]

We Say: This also falls in the category of “what took you so long?” stories, but that’s beside the point.

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