Any company storing confidential data, or tracking users' activity using search technology, needs to keep an eye on the evolving story of AOL's recent search data boo-boo as privacy lobbyists push for a full investigation of the recent incident. In case you missed the news, AOL published Web phrases and search terms used by its extensive membership in the past three months. It turned out that users could be identified through the data, a privacy invasion that the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) isn't about to overlook. The EFF now wants the Federal Trade Commission to look into the issue and says it's a prime example of why data collection must be regulated with strict laws.

For more on the data privacy issue:
- click over to TechWeb to read the article