There are no immediate issues with AIM/AOL that I know of; they're not connected with Google, and the March 1 thing is purely the new Google privacy policy.
Yeah, *sighing because I might have to seriously update my blog for the first time in ages* they are connected - Google runs all of AOL's search engines. All results on AOL/AIM are in fact "Powered by Google". An AOL or AIM search page is essentially just a Google search page with some AOL branding on it and slightly different styling.
So yeah, if you have your home page set to Aol.com and search from AOL's search-box thingy up top, you're going to get tracked the same way and go through the same nonsense privacy-wise, AFAIK (edited a few days later to add: I've contacted both AOL's Privacy Team and Google's to request clarification, and am awaiting responses). *curses*
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Yeah, *sighing because I might have to seriously update my blog for the first time in ages* they are connected - Google runs all of AOL's search engines. All results on AOL/AIM are in fact "Powered by Google". An AOL or AIM search page is essentially just a Google search page with some AOL branding on it and slightly different styling.
So yeah, if you have your home page set to Aol.com and search from AOL's search-box thingy up top, you're going to get tracked the same way and go through the same nonsense privacy-wise, AFAIK (edited a few days later to add: I've contacted both AOL's Privacy Team and Google's to request clarification, and am awaiting responses). *curses*