“Google’s alleged circumvention of do-not-track controls on Apple’s Safari browser could lead to big fines from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission if the agency determines Google has violated a privacy settlement the company agreed to in March, some privacy advocates said Friday,” Grant Gross reports for IDG News.
“Violations of a settlement with the FTC can lead to fines of $16,000 per violation, per day,” Gross reports. “It’s unclear how many times Google may have circumvented do-not-track protections on the Safari browser, distributed with iPhones, iPads, some iPods and Macintosh computers.”
Gross reports, “Google was ‘incredibly stupid’ to slip tracking cookies into Safari, given that the company is under scrutiny by the FTC and privacy advocates, said Justin Brookman, director of consumer privacy at the Center for Democracy and Technology. ‘I’d be very surprised if there was not some type of FTC action.'”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Dan K.” for the heads up.]
Related article:
WSJ: Google tracked iPhone, iPad users, bypassing Apple’s Safari browser privacy settings; Microsoft denounces – February 17, 2012