According to a Reuters report citing “two people familiar with the matter,” U.S. FTC regulators will require Google Inc. to pay a civil penalty of $22.5 million to settle charges that it bypassed the privacy settings of customers using Apple Inc’s Safari browser.
“The Federal Trade Commission voted to approve a consent decree that will allow Google to settle the agency’s investigation but admit no liability, said one of the sources, who was not authorized to speak on the record,” Reuters reports. “An official announcement is expected within days, the second source said.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Some penalty. Google wipes their collective ass with more than that each and every day.
And, why is Google allowed to settle at all? What’s their leverage? If they did something wrong that requires a fine, why are they allowed to negotiate things like no admission of liability? Why are they allowed to negotiate anything at all? If you steal somebody’s credit card, go on a shopping spree, and get caught, do they fingerprint you, take your mugshot and then sit down to negotiate your sentence? Is the reason so that Google can escape civil actions on the part of millions of affected Safari users who had their privacy settings bypassed? If so, why are they allowed to escape with a slap on the wrist they won’t even notice along with no admission of liability? If so, why is the ability of Safari users to seek recompense impeded?
Related articles:
Google’s D.C. lobbyists have outspent Apple nearly 10 to 1 so far this year – July 23, 2012
Google to pay $22.5 million to settle charges over bypassing privacy settings of millions of Apple users – July 10, 2012
Apple’s anti-user tracking policy has mobile advertisers scrambling – May 9, 2012
Google said to be negotiating amount of U.S. FTC fine over Apple Safari breach – May 4, 2012
Cookies and privacy, Google and Safari – February 25, 2012
Obama’s privacy plan puts pinch on Google – February 24, 2012
Obama administration outlines online privacy guidelines – February 23, 2012
Google sued by Apple Safari-user for bypassing browser privacy – February 21, 2012
Google responds to Microsoft over privacy issues, calls IE’s cookie policy ‘widely non-operational’ – February 21, 2012
Google’s tracking of Safari users could prompt FTC investigation – February 18, 2012
WSJ: Google tracked iPhone, iPad users, bypassing Apple’s Safari browser privacy settings; Microsoft denounces – February 17, 2012
