Google to Pay $22.5 Million Settlement in Safari Privacy Circumvention Case

Google to Pay $22.5 Million Settlement in Safari Privacy Circumvention Case - Mac Rumors window.fbAsyncInit = function() { FB.init({ appId : '263507923666566', status : true, // check login status cookie : true, // enable cookies to allow the server to access the session xfbml : true // parse XFBML }); }; (function() { var e = document.createElement('script'); e.src = document.location.protocol + '//connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js'; e.async = true; document.getElementById('fb-root').appendChild(e); }()); Front Page Mac Blog iOS Blog Buyer's Guide ForumsGot a tip for us? Share it...Twitter • Facebook • RSSa. Send us an emailb. Anonymous formclose (x)Google to Pay $22.5 Million Settlement in Safari Privacy Circumvention CaseThursday August 9, 2012 9:43 am PDT by Eric SlivkaIn line with last month's report on negotiations between Google and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over the company's circumvention of privacy settings in Safari, the FTC has officially announced that Google has agreed to pay a record $22.5 million penalty to settle the case.The settlement is part of the FTC’s ongoing efforts make sure companies live up to the privacy promises they make to consumers, and is the largest penalty the agency has ever obtained for a violation of a Commission order. In addition to the civil penalty, the order also requires Google to disable all the tracking cookies it had said it would not place on consumers’ computers.

“The record setting penalty in this matter sends a clear message to all companies under an FTC privacy order,” said Jon Leibowitz, Chairman of the FTC. “No matter how big or small, all companies must abide by FTC orders against them and keep their privacy promises to consumers, or they will end up paying many times what it would have cost to comply in the first place.”

Google took advantage of a loophole in Safari's privacy settings designed to prevent placement of third-party cookies by default, using invisible web forms to trick Safari into thinking that users had interacted with Google's ads and thus allowing cookies to be placed on the device.


Graphic from The Wall Street Journal
The FTC specifically charged Google with violating an October 2011 order related to a previous case of privacy violations. In the new Safari case, FTC commissioners voted 4-1 to approve the settlement, with the dissenting commissioner arguing against the settlement allowing Google to deny all liability related to the issue. [ 179 comments ] Tweet Top Rated Comments(View all)

Feed Me3 days ago at 09:49 amSo where's my share of the money? I'm the one who's got his privacy violated.Rating: 31 Positivesmono19803 days ago at 09:47 amWow Google, this is really shady stuff. And people wonder why I don't trust them.Rating: 28 PositivesLagunaSol3 days ago at 09:52 amWhy do people insist on seeing Google as the "Good Guys?"

Big Brother is here - and his name is Google. :eek:Rating: 23 PositivesMMOTotal3 days ago at 09:48 amGlad they got what they deserved. Play nice next time :p

Rating: 22 PositivesTiger83 days ago at 09:57 amWhat happened to Google? It used to be a great innovative company, remember how they rocked the world with their search engine? Their Gmail? Their Docs? Google Voice?

Now they turned into this monster that steals everything from their own customers info to other people's software. Seriously Google, get your act together.Rating: 20 Positivesnepalisherpa3 days ago at 09:44 amThey deserve it!Rating: 19 PositivesWinter Charm3 days ago at 09:53 amGoogle is nothing short of evil. They don't respect user privacy one bit!Rating: 15 Positivescamnchar3 days ago at 09:59 amIt is stuff like this that reminds me that the end-users are not Google's customers, the companies buying ads are. Concepts like privacy are just obstacles in between Google and cash.Rating: 15 PositivesKavok3 days ago at 09:49 am"Don't Be Evil" indeed. :rolleyes:Rating: 14 Positivesmatrix073 days ago at 10:08 amAnd it's not only this case.

Rating: 10 Positives
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