Google fined over Safari cookie privacy row

[vta]

Doh!

Google has agreed to pay the largest fine ever imposed on a single company by the US Federal Trade Commission.

The firm agreed to pay $22.5m (£14.4m) after monitoring web surfers using Apple's Safari browser who had a "do not track" privacy setting selected.

Google does not have to admit wrongdoing as part of the settlement.

The penalty is for misrepresenting what it was doing and not for the methods it used to bypass Safari's tracker cookie settings

Link

 

[YosemiteSam]

Well deserved.

btw, fines should be a flat fee (as this one is) or based on revenue. Which ever is higher. $22M is chump change to Google and companies like that.

 

[Reality]

$22 million fine .. *laughs* The equivalent of a $0.22 fine in regular people terms.

#reality

 

[vta]

What's more amazing is the article that this article led me to:

Quitting Google

It's pretty disturbing. It's like Google practically owns the internet and you can't get away from them.

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

It is humorous when a company is found guilty of something, has to pay a fine because they are found guilty of something but part of the punishment agreement is that they don't have to admit to being guilty. :laugh1:

 

[Reality]

It is humorous when a company is found guilty of something, has to pay a fine because they are found guilty of something but part of the punishment agreement is that they don't have to admit to being guilty. :laugh1:

They do that so they are not liable for individual or class action lawsuits filed by opportunistic users or lawyers who want to represent groups of users. Most companies would rather pay a fine than deal with potential litigation so the department or agency levying the fine uses that as part of their leverage to get a quick cash settlement.

#reality