Google Settles with U.S. Government on Privacy Violations
July 12th, 2012
Where does $22.5 million show up on Google’s list of expenses? Hmm…
In other words, for Google and other companies: Do more of this. The penalty for getting caught is trivial.
Via: New York Times:
Google and the Federal Trade Commission are near a $22.5 million settlement agreement related to charges that Google bypassed privacy settings in Apple’s Safari browser to show advertisements, according to a person briefed on the proposed settlement.
The $22.5 million fine would be the largest privacy-related settlement in F.T.C. history. It comes as the commission investigates Google for antitrust violations and cracks down on privacy missteps by tech companies, including Google, which last year agreed to pay for any future privacy blunders as part of a separate F.T.C. settlement.
A spokesman for the commission, Peter Kaplan, declined to comment. Chris Gaither, a Google spokesman, also would not comment on the settlement, but said, “We do set the highest standards of privacy and security for our users.�
The case involves how Google shows users personalized Web ads based on their interests. Google’s DoubleClick ad network customizes ads based on sites that users have previously visited, and ads they have recommended to friends by using the Google +1 button. To do this, Google uses cookies, small files that allow Web sites to do things like identify the types of Web pages a user visits.
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