AOL fires its CTO

AOL has fired its chief technology officer and two others after an inquiry as to how web-search data of some of its customers ended up on the world wide wibbly web.

Maureen Govern, hired by AOL as its chief technology officer in September, cleared out her desk yesterday, according to the Wall Street Journal.

An unnamed manager and researcher have also been handed their P45s and pink slips. Web-search data of more than 20 million queries made by 650,000 of its AOL punters were posted to an AOL research Web site last month. µ