Google to Pay $17 Million to Settle Privacy Case 109
cold fjord writes "The New York Times reports, 'Google agreed on Monday to pay $17 million to 37 states and the District of Columbia ... The case involved Google's bypassing of privacy settings in Apple's Safari browser to use cookies to track users and show them advertisements in 2011 and 2012. Google has said it discontinued circumventing the settings early last year, after the practice was publicly reported, and stopped tracking Safari users and showing them personalized ads. ... the case is one of a growing pile of government investigations, lawsuits and punishments related to privacy matters at the company. They include cases involving a social networking tool called Buzz, illegal data collection by Street View vehicles and accusations of wiretapping to show personalized ads in Gmail. '"
From the DOJ, the settlement (PDF).
$17M? (Score:2, Insightful)
Isn't that what Page and Brin piss out the window on a daily basis at their lunch breaks?
Re:violation of trust (Score:5, Insightful)
There is a diverse range of companies. Alternatives include Microsoft or Yahoo.
Yeah I'm sticking to Google too. Nothing prevents the alternatives from being worse.
As a Safari User... (Score:5, Insightful)
As a Safari user, where's my cheque?
Oh. That's right. My privacy was invaded but governments are going to get the money.
That seems fair. ...
Re:violation of trust (Score:3, Insightful)
$17 million is smallchange to Google. And the affected man in the street never sees a penny, nor evven a reduction in taxes. Its a nice way for Google to "donate" $17 million for govt pet projects without it being seen as lobbying / bribes / etc.
The dear government (Score:2, Insightful)
I had no idea how concerned they were about preservation of privacy.
Re:violation of trust (Score:4, Insightful)
They hacked your browser? Or did they make you install one they coded up themselves? I bet you're still on Facebook though.
Not sure I follow... yes, they hacked my Safari browser. I do not use the Chrome browser for obvious reasons considering this discussion. I also don't use Facebook for obvious reasons. What did you mean?
Realistically, when you are the product, their bosses, the investors, will stop at nothing for them to sell you better. Get used to it, or start paying for everything you do on the web.
I agree. Which is why I work to minimize my exposure to that sort of monetization.
Get used to it, or start paying for everything you do on the web.
There's a middle way where you get treated with respect. For example, Apple has a google apps competitor and a google maps competitor that is free and they're not scheming to monetize you. They win by giving you a reason to buy their hardware. In short, no, I'm not going to get used to it.
Re:violation of trust (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm still really upset that Google hacked my browser...
You seem to misunderstand the meaning of the work "hacked". Google did no such thing.
Google harvested data on peoples web surfing habits against the express wishes of their customers and they did it by quite deliberately circumventing browser settings. I don't care what you name you choose to call this behaviour, the fine should have been at least one order of magnitude higher. A penalty of $17 million is a pitiful amount.