Google to Pay $17 Million Settlement to States in Safari Privacy Circumvention Case

[MacRumors]

Thirty-seven states and the District of Columbia have agreed to a $17 million settlement with Google over the company's circumvention of privacy settings in Safari, reports PCWorld. Google previously agreed to a $22.5 million settlement with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to settle a similar case between the company and the federal government.

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​

"Consumers should be able to know whether there are other eyes surfing the web with them," [New York Attorney General Eric] Schneiderman said in a statement. "By tracking millions of people without their knowledge, Google violated not only their privacy, but also their trust."

Google said it was pleased to reach the settlement. "We work hard to get privacy right at Google and have taken steps to remove the ad cookies, which collected no personal information, from Apple's browsers," a spokeswoman said by email.

Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin were all involved in the settlement.

Article Link: Google to Pay $17 Million Settlement to States in Safari Privacy Circumvention Case

 

[akm3]

Don't be evil.

 

[M5RahuL]

What the ...! no Colorado !!!!! I want that luncheon check

Bad...bad GQQGLE !

 

[yadmonkey]

Don't be evil.

Do as we say, not as we do.

 

[Jayse]

Giant two-faced snake of a company. They'll never change while there is value in user data...

 

[kalsta]

Don't be evil.

The exact words that came to my mind as I read the article. What they meant was, don't be evil unless you can do it secretly.

 

[M5RahuL]

And just $17 million ? Google probably farts more $$$ than that!

 

[Doomtomb]

LMAO $17 million is like less than a day's work for Google.

 

[Djtrackie]

Google said it was pleased to reach the settlement. "We work hard to get into your privacy right at Google" a spokeswoman said by email.

fixed it

 

[taptic]

Gotta love Google. -_-

 

[Krazy Bill]

Just enough to buy everyone in those states a stale Doughnut.

 

[clarsen]

This is all well and good that the states settled, but I was the one that "suffered" so where is my money?

 

[rshoff]

Wow, 17million. What a punishment! Ya know, hackers get sent to jail for years when they breach a corporate server. Why does Google get off so easily for hacking millions of personal computers residing in people's homes with their security settings set for privacy?! Let me answer that, they shouldn't.

 

[Peace]

Wow, 17million. What a punishment! Ya know, hackers get sent to jail for years when they breach a corporate server. Why does Google get off so easily for hacking millions of personal computers residing in people's homes with their security settings set for privacy?! Let me answer that, they shouldn't.

Because they have 50 billion dollars and the hacker doesn't.

 

[Shrink]

$17 million.

Find that between the cushions on the sofa in the executive lounge...

 

[Todd B.]

Needs to be $17 billion, otherwise Google will just keep doing this garbage.

 

[onirocdarb]

That screen shot looks like its from 1995

 

[mcdj]

So the feds fine Google because they violated citizen's privacy, but the feds are keeping the money...?

 

[GenesisST]

Good thing I use Chrome!

Obligatory "/sarcasm" for dense people

 

[brdeveloper]

Gave up Chrome after having upgraded to Mavericks. I use Safari 99% of time and Firefox for some very specific tasks.

 

[dennno]

The 17 million should have been paid to users who were taken advantage of.

 

[hoon2999]

what about NSA? do they get a fine too?

 

[alvindarkness]

"We work hard to get privacy right at Google and have taken steps to remove the ad cookies, which collected no personal information, from Apple's browsers," a spokeswoman said by email."

Dont they work ever soooooo hard to get privacy right. I imagine it was such amazingly hard work to remove the ad cookies. I mean compared to coming up with this scheme and implementing it in the first place. Well done google, well done. </sarcasm>

 

[macs4nw]

That dastardly Google! Caught again with their hand in our 'cookie jar'.

 

[elvisimprsntr]

And the only people that receive any compensation are the lawyers and politicians. Who is more evil?