Google to pay largest FTC penalty ever for privacy violations

[BigTyla]

After news like this, who in the world would still willingly use Chrome?

Google to pay largest FTC penalty ever for privacy violations | Fox News (http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2012/07/10/google-to-pay-largest-ftc-penalty-ever-levied-on-single-company/)


Google is close to a deal to pay $22.5 million to settle charges related to its surreptitious bypassing of the privacy settings of millions of Apple users, according to officials briefed on the settlement terms.

The fine is expected to be the largest penalty ever levied on a single company by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. It offers the latest sign of the FTC's stepped-up approach to policing online privacy violations, coming just six months after The Wall Street Journal reported on Google's practices.

While the fine likely will represent only a tiny portion of Google's revenues—last year, the Internet giant raked in that much cash roughly every five hours or so—it counts among a series of negative reports about Google's privacy practices that could undermine users' trust in its services.

The current charges involve Google's use of special computer code to trick Apple's Safari Web-browsing software into letting it monitor users that had blocked such tracking. Google disabled the code after being contacted by the Journal, which wrote about Google's practices in February.

Google officials say tracking of Apple users was inadvertent and didn't cause any harm to consumers. But Google's actions appeared to contradict previous statements it had made assuring Apple users that they could rely on Safari's privacy settings to block unwanted tracking.

Google said in a statement, "The FTC is focused on a 2009 help center page.…We have now changed that page and taken steps to remove the ad cookies," referring to the small computer files that can enable tracking of people's online activities.

An FTC spokeswoman declined to comment.

[FeaRpb]

Using it right now and loving it.

[onebadmollafolla]

Fining Google $22.5 million is like fining your average Joe a $1.50. Seems Apple and Google have their beef. :lol:

[stealthify]

$22.5 million ... last year, the Internet giant raked in that much cash roughly every five hours or so

Damn.

[HilbillyHomeboy]

http://dailypicksandflicks.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/yao-ming-wearing-yao-ming-meme-shirt.jpg

[93STLTH]

Meh... I'm sure they would be bored off their asses monitoring my internet use.

[BigTyla]

Using it right now and loving it.

Why? What does it offer you that you're willing to use it over a browser that is far superior (Firefox) while willingly giving up your internet privacy?

[FeaRpb]

Firefox superior? Please. Maybe back in 07/08. But still back then it was memory leak hell and still not very secure. I loved people who used firefox back then, they were simple targets.

Firefox is a pathetically slow browser and way less secure compared to Chrome. I like Chrome because it works the way I want it to while still being sleek. As for willingly giving up my internet privacy to Google. They are the least of my worries. And really, I find it comical.

Name me something you can do with FireFox better than I can do with Chrome.



*EDIT* The only good thing Firefox had going for it recently was 2 1/2 years ago when Firesheep was around. (But even then, that is just an addon, so firefox was really just there in the background)

[BigTyla]

Firefox is a pathetically slow browser and way less secure compared to Chrome.

References, please. I've tried both browsers and noticed no speed differences between the two. As for security, I'm not aware of any datamining attempts by Mozilla in the Firefox browser, unlike Google with Chrome. If you are only referring to viruses, etc, please provide references for this as well.


Name me something you can do with FireFox better than I can do with Chrome.

One word: addons. It lets me do ANYTHING better than Chrome can.

[NickS VR4]

References, please. I've tried both browsers and noticed no speed differences between the two. As for security, I'm not aware of any datamining attempts by Mozilla in the Firefox browser, unlike Google with Chrome. If you are only referring to viruses, etc, please provide references for this as well.



One word: addons. It lets me do ANYTHING better than Chrome can.

Decided to check, turns out Chrome has addons (on the PC).

[Boost4VR4]

Google Chrome is an excellent browser, I have Firefox and it crashes all the time. Chrome also has ADM templates that are much better than FirefoxADM which is a huge plus for Active Directory administration of the browser in general.

[FeaRpb]

Keyword: ADDONS.

Addons have been making horrible things better for years.

[NickS VR4]

Keyword: ADDONS.

Addons have been making horrible things better for years.

Yeah, doubt Google would build AdBlockPlus directly into their Chrome Browser.

[BigTyla]

Keyword: ADDONS.

Addons have been making horrible things better for years.

That's being rather disengeuous. There are plenty of addons that make good features even better/cleaner. DoNotTrack, Firefox Video Download Helper, FlashGot, etc, are all great addons that improve browser functionality. That doesn't mean Firefox, at base level, is "horrible."

I get the feeling we've had this conversation before, perhaps within the past two months...

[stealthify]

As someone that uses both browsers actively, just wanted to give my 2 cents. Both browsers are very competitive (feature-wise) with eachother. That said, each browser also has its share of constantly changing drawbacks.


Firefox superior? Please. Maybe back in 07/08. But still back then it was memory leak hell and still not very secure.
Steven is right that back in 07/08, Chrome would have been the better choice. FireFox 3 did have memory leaks (http://neosmart.net/blog/2008/firefox-3-is-still-a-memory-hog/), and it has been a constant battle for FireFox every since. Granted, a lot of these memory leaks were caused by addons, and FireFox has cracked down a lot since back then.

However, this part is incorrect

Firefox is ... way less secure compared to Chrome.
Up until fairly recently, this would have been correct. However, if we're talking about today's world, this is what we're faced with:

Google Chrome Falls First in Pwn2Own Hacking Contest | News & Opinion | PCMag.com (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2401305,00.asp)
Chrome succumbs to Pwn2Own contest hack - Computerworld (http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9225010/Chrome_succumbs_to_Pwn2Own_contest_hack)

Personally, I still use it. Chrome feels a little less bloated to me at the moment, and I enjoy a lot of the features that it has baked directly in (e.g. the ability to sync bookmarks and open tabs across all of my computers at home and at work. This can also be achieved via addons with Firefox, however.) I also found that webkit/Chrome is a little more supported with other Google products (obviously), which I do use often (gmail, docs, live unified search bar, etc).

[VR-4 0wnz j00]

I ditched both and went to Opera. Ive been very please.

[IPD]

1. that's such a stupidly small amount of money that the CEO will reach into his pocket, brush off some pocket lint, and hand over 23M and tell the FTC to keep the change.

2. f**k apple users. if google can do this to compromise your security, just imagine what your beloved "secure" OS/browser system can be made to do in the hands of a dedicated, malicious independant hacker.

3. you will never convince me that Chrome > FF. Chrome has improved substantially, yet it is still the brainchild of a company whose bread & butter is datamining. even more to the point, FF has versatility that Chrome does not--thanks to the aforementioned add-on's. Perhaps if all you ever do is read chain emails and watch youtube videos...then yes, Chrome might be a better choice. FF is way better for file handling. "memory leak"? please. i've choked the piss out of Chrome with the same browsing i do on FF. if you surf extensively during your broswer session, it's going to bog down the browser--regardless of which browser.

[FeaRpb]

Lololololol

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