Google to Pay $17 Million to Settle Privacy Case

cold fjord writes "The New York Times reports, 'Google agreed on Monday to pay $17 million to 37 states and the District of Columbia ... The case involved Google's bypassing of privacy settings in Apple's Safari browser to use cookies to track users and show them advertisements in 2011 and 2012. Google has said it discontinued circumventing the settings early last year, after the practice was publicly reported, and stopped tracking Safari users and showing them personalized ads. ... the case is one of a growing pile of government investigations, lawsuits and punishments related to privacy matters at the company. They include cases involving a social networking tool called Buzz, illegal data collection by Street View vehicles and accusations of wiretapping to show personalized ads in Gmail. '" From the DOJ, the settlement (PDF).

Comments

violation of trust

[noh8rz10]

I'm still really upset that Google hacked my browser to install tracking beacons without my knowledge and against my expressed wishes. I think this is emblematic of how they do business and how lowly they think of their "users". I also uninstalled all the google apps from my iPhone after the tracker story from last week.

What's the alternative? Hopefully, this monoculture will be replaced with a rich mix of companies and options.

Re:violation of trust

[cheater512]

There is a diverse range of companies. Alternatives include Microsoft or Yahoo.

Yeah I'm sticking to Google too. Nothing prevents the alternatives from being worse.

Re:violation of trust

[Anonymous Coward]

$17 million is smallchange to Google. And the affected man in the street never sees a penny, nor evven a reduction in taxes. Its a nice way for Google to "donate" $17 million for govt pet projects without it being seen as lobbying / bribes / etc.

Re:violation of trust

[noh8rz10]

They hacked your browser? Or did they make you install one they coded up themselves? I bet you're still on Facebook though.

Not sure I follow... yes, they hacked my Safari browser. I do not use the Chrome browser for obvious reasons considering this discussion. I also don't use Facebook for obvious reasons. What did you mean?

Realistically, when you are the product, their bosses, the investors, will stop at nothing for them to sell you better. Get used to it, or start paying for everything you do on the web.

I agree. Which is why I work to minimize my exposure to that sort of monetization.

Get used to it, or start paying for everything you do on the web.

There's a middle way where you get treated with respect. For example, Apple has a google apps competitor and a google maps competitor that is free and they're not scheming to monetize you. They win by giving you a reason to buy their hardware. In short, no, I'm not going to get used to it.

Re:violation of trust

[icebike]

4 hours worth of revenue, someone figured out.

Tax write off, cost of doing business, and all the money went to the lawyers.

Re:violation of trust

[Savage-Rabbit]

I'm still really upset that Google hacked my browser...

You seem to misunderstand the meaning of the work "hacked". Google did no such thing.

Google harvested data on peoples web surfing habits against the express wishes of their customers and they did it by quite deliberately circumventing browser settings. I don't care what you name you choose to call this behaviour, the fine should have been at least one order of magnitude higher. A penalty of $17 million is a pitiful amount.

As a Safari User...

[whisper_jeff]

As a Safari user, where's my cheque?

Oh. That's right. My privacy was invaded but governments are going to get the money.

That seems fair. ...

Re:What law did Google break?

[Anonymous Coward]

First four entries in Appendix A on the PDF that you are having trouble with:

• Alabama Deceptive Trade Practices Act, Ala. Code 8-19-1 through 8-19-15
• Arizona Consumer Fraud Act, Ariz. Rev. Stat. Ann. 44-1521, et seq.; Ariz. Rev. Stat. Ann. 13-2316(A)(6) and (D); Ariz. Rev. Stat. Ann. 44-7301, et seq
• Arkansas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, Ark. Code Ann. 4-88-101 through 115; Arkansas Computer-Related Crimes Act, Ark. Code Ann. 5-41-106; Consumer Protection Against Computer Spyware Act, Ark. Code Ann. 4-111-101 through 105
• California - Cal. Bus & Prof. Code 17200, et seq.; Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code 17500; Comprehensive Computer Data Access and Fraud Act, Cal. Penal Code 502

All 37 states plus the District of Columbia are represented in the appendix.

For those looking for a technical explanation

[antifoidulus]

TFA doesn't actually contain any details on how they did that, but (ironically) with the help of Google, I was able to find a page that details the process. The short answer is they took advantage of the fact that any form submitted from the browser to a site would allow that site to install cookies, so they added a hidden form submit to their ads.

Google would never do that to me.

[Kaz Kylheku]

I use Google+, and Chrome, and Google Apps, Mail, AdWords, etc.

Google loves me as a result and respects my privacy.

They seem to be getting worse, rather than better.

[seebs]

And today I got a G+ event invitation to a suspended G+ account (they don't consider "seebs" a real name). Since it's suspended, I can't opt out of notifications or mailings, nor can I use the help forums to contact them. Or anything else, so far as I can tell.