[From]

While AOL doesn’t deny collecting the same data as the other three, they claim that they would be technically unable as well as unwilling to provide a list of IPs that requested particular search terms. They can, however, provide a list of terms that a particular IP searched for. Unlike the others companies, however, users of AOL Search have complete access to that data and can delete records at will or opt out of data collection entirely. AOL doesn’t get perfect marks—opt-in is always preferable to opt-out in my opinion—but I was pretty impressed with their answers.

{That kind of snake isn’t quite so sinister because it rattles first as a warning: “Look at us, we’re dangerous and evil as shit!” }

See cnet’s Search firms surveyed on privacy for verbatim answers of what major search companies said.