http://legal.aol.com/aolsearchdatasettlement/

Deadline to: Submit a Claim Form - Postmarked by: August 2, 2013

A Settlement has been reached with AOL Inc. (“AOL”) in a class action lawsuit about certain users’ search query data that were made available for download from the Internet in 2006. AOL said that the data was anonymous. The lawsuit, however, claims that some users’ identities could be determined from the search data and that AOL violated certain privacy and consumer protection laws.

AOL denies it did anything wrong and the Settlement does not prove that AOL did anything wrong.

The Settlement provides payments for anyone who: (a) had an AOL account between March 1, 2006 and May 31, 2006, and (b) believes in good faith that their search data may have been made public.

There are three types of payment Class Members can claim from the class action lawsuit settlement:

Tier 1 Payment: You are eligible for a payment of up to $50 if you:

  • Were an AOL member between March and May 2006, and
  • Believe in good faith that your search data was made available for download from research.aol.com.




Tier 2 Payment: You are eligible for a payment of up to $100 if you:

  • Were an AOL member between March and May 2006,
  • Believe in good faith that your search data was made available for download from research.aol.com, and
  • Either: 1) you have been identified from that data or 2) another person or company could be reasonably certain of your identity based on the data.




Arbitration Claim: If you are eligible for a Tier 2 Payment and feel you suffered losses greater than $100, you can give up your right to that Tier Payment and file an “Arbitration Claim.” If you choose to do so, a neutral party will assess your claim. There is no guarantee your Arbitration Claim will be successful or that you will receive more than $100.

Payments from the AOL class action settlement will be determined at a later date and will depend on the total amount of valid claims received. The only way to receive a payment is to submit a Claim Form by the deadline.