Topic: Search History

Following the shooting, media outlets reported that Crooks had 14,000 links on his phone and had searched for "major depressive disorder" and "explosive materials." Some reports attempted to link the act to antidepressants, citing studies from Oxford, while others noted his interest in the Oxford High School shooter Ethan Crumley, suggesting a "reverse-engineered" motive by law enforcement.

The ethical programming of self-driving cars was debated, specifically regarding how an AI should choose between the safety of the passenger and a pedestrian. A humorous suggestion was made that Google might base these life-and-death decisions on a user's search history.

Linguistic studies of the Tsarnaev brothers' tweets showed a drop in "cognitive words" and "I-word" usage before the Boston bombing, suggesting a finalized plan. There is growing concern that NSA surveillance data will become a standard part of legal discovery in court cases. A survey of students found that while they would share emails for research, they were unwilling to share their search histories.