A class action lawsuit was filed in California today against AOL for last month’s disclosure of thousands of users’ search results. The suit (PDF) seeks no less than $1000 in damages per user effected and $4000 more per user in California. Privacy is cheap!

The most interesting part of the suit is that the plaintiffs seek to force AOL to stop storing search data all together. The suit also demands that user search data not appear in further search results and not be used for commercial or non-commercial purposes. Though this is probably an unrealistic demand to make, it’s also a broad attack on many of the most interesting developments on the web today. Our data is valuable, exposing it freely to the world without our permission is obviously a horrifying thought, but that valuable resource should be used for our benefit and according to our desires – not destroyed.

Filed in US District Court of Northern California, the suit was brought by three AOL users represented by the law firm Berman DeValerio Pease Tabacco Burt & Pucillo.