Google has agreed to a record $22.5 million fine to settle charges that it circumvented the privacy settings of Safari users, the Federal Trade Commission announced on Thursday.
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Google Agrees To $22.5 Mil Fine For Tracking Safari Users
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Google Fined Record $22.5M by FTC re Claimed Safari Privacy Violations on Macs, iPhones and iPads
Google Inc. has agreed to pay a record $22.5 million fine to the Federal Trade Commission for allegedly overriding privacy settings on Apple computer users’ Safari browsers in order to track individuals’ Web-surfing behavior.
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Google Fined $22.5M For Latest Privacy Breakdown
SAN FRANCISCO—Google is paying a $22.5 million fine to settle the latest regulatory case questioning the Internet search leader’s respect for people’s privacy and the integrity of its internal controls.
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Google To Pay Record $22.5 Million To Settle With FTC
Search giant denies it intended to violate consumer privacy by circumventing Safari settings
Privacy advocates have been waiting for this one: Google agreed to pay a record $22.5 million to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that it circumvented privacy settings in Apple’s Safari browser. As part of the order, Google must disable all the tracking cookies it had said it would not place on consumers’ computers.
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FTC: $22.5 Million Penalty Sends Message To Google
Google agreed to pay a $22.5 million penalty — the largest ever levied by the Federal Trade Commission — to settle charges that it failed to honor the privacy settings of millions of people who use Apple’s Safari Web browser, regulators said Thursday.
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FTC’s $22.5 Million Penalty For Google Is Insufficient Without Admission Of Wrongdoing, Consumer Watchdog Says; Group Hopes To Block Settlement
SANTA MONICA, CA – The Federal Trade Commission’s record $22.5 million penalty against Google is inadequate unless the Internet giant admits its wrongdoing, Consumer Watchdog said today.
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“Do Not Track” Web Mandate Still Lacks Definition
“Joe Barton is one of the most conservative Republicans in the House of Representatives, and Ed Markey is one of the most liberal,” said Consumer Watchdog’s Simpson. “The fact that those two guys can come together on this leads me to believe that privacy is likely to be one of the issues where there will be bipartisan agreement about the need to do something.”
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Google Prepared to Pay $22.5 Million Fine to Settle ‘Cookiegate’
John M. Simpson, who is the lead Google researcher at Consumer Watchdog in Santa Monica, California, indicated he is skeptical of Google’s continued claims of innocence, “When they get caught with their fingers in the cookie jar doing something they clearly should not be doing, they say, ‘Oops, it was completely by accident.’”
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FTC Turns Deaf Ear to Google’s ‘Ignorance’ Defense in Safari Snafu
Despite Google’s protestations of innocence, or at least ignorance, consumer advocate organizations including Consumer Watchdog decried Google’s behavior and filed suit with the FTC. Needless to say, they are delighted about the reports of an impending settlement. “This is a wanton violation on Google’s part,” John M. Simpson, Consumer Watchdog’s privacy project director, told the E-Commerce Times, brushing aside the company’s claims the tracking was accidental. “What made it even worse is that they lied to users about what they were doing,” he added. “Google told people they were honoring the Safari browser settings.”
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Google Would Pay Record FTC Fine Under Tentative Apple Safari Settlement
Google officials have called the use of tracking cookies an accident caused by technical glitches that have been corrected. Privacy advocates have scoffed at those explanations. “When they get caught with their fingers in the cookie jar doing something they clearly should not be doing, they say, ‘Oops, it was completely by accident,’ ” said John M. Simpson of Consumer Watchdog, based in Santa Monica, Calif., and one of several groups to file complaints about Google’s alleged tracking on Apple browsers.