In a move to actually protect your privacy, which may be a first from a judge in recent years, U.S. District Judge Susan Illston has approved a fine that will see Google pay a staggering $22.5 million fine to the FTC for ignoring Safari’s “do not track” implementation that was designed to stop advertising agencies, and Google, from spying on a user’s browsing habits online without their knowledge.
The FTC alleged that Google “duped millions of Web surfers using the Safari browser into believing their online activities couldn’t be tracked by the company as long as they didn’t change the browser’s privacy settings.” Google was already feeling the heat for ignoring Safari’s settings, and issued an apology on its website earlier this year. Apparently, according to the AP, Google issued promises to the FTC that they would keep their privacy commitments earlier in the year. When it became common knowledge that Google was conducting business as usual again, the FTC stepped in to fine the company.
Some companies take user privacy more serious than others. In some instances you have a company like Apple that makes its money from selling you actual products, and in other cases you have companies like Google and Facebook that make all of its profit from spying on you and your online habits.
Can you tell which practice we’re more in favor of around these parts?
