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Facebook Settlement With FTC Could Run Into the Billions (nytimes.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the that's-a-lot-of-zeros dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The New York Times: Facebook and the Federal Trade Commission are discussing a settlement over privacy violations that could amount to a record, multibillion-dollar fine, according to three people with knowledge of the talks. The company and the F.T.C.'s consumer protection and enforcement staff have been in negotiations over a financial penalty for claims that Facebook violated a 2011 privacy consent decree with the agency, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation is private. In 2011, Facebook promised a series of measures to protect user privacy after an investigation found it had harmed consumers with its handling of user data. The current talks have not yet reached the F.T.C.'s five commissioners for a vote and it is unclear how close the two sides are to wrapping up the nearly 11-month investigation. The commissioners met in mid-December and were updated by staff members that they had at that point found considerable evidence of violations of the 2011 consent decree. The FTC investigation into Facebook began after it was reported that the information of 87 million users had been harvested by a British political consulting firm, Cambridge Analytica, without their permission. The agency could seek up to $41,000 for each violation found.

1 of 77 comments (clear)

  1. Liberal platform by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Liberals....
    Support killing live born babies and call it abortion.
    Support KKK member who is VA governor
    Support serial rapist who is VA Lt. governor
    Want to destroy/rebuild EVERY building in the US over next 10 years
    Want to ban airline travel within 10 years replacing it by train (Bye bye Hawaii)
    Want to ban steak within 10 years
    Want to pay people a living wage who are "unwilling to work"
    Want to have power to tell you if you can get medical treatment or not
    Refuse to do anything about fentanol over Mexican border killing thousands every year
    Protect illegal aliens with violent criminal records who shoot and kill US citizens like Kate Stanley (And refuse to support a law to prevent it from happening again)
    Have stated they will use "Emergency Order" to overturn second amendment next time they get White House
    Supported a KKK leader in the Senate for 60 years, Robert Byrd

    Maybe the liberals appear stupid because they are stupid.