revelarts
07-10-2012, 01:14 PM
Google fined $22.5 million for ignoring customers' privacy settings
Google Inc is reportedly close to paying $22.5 million to settle charges that it bypassed the privacy settings of customers using Apple's Safari browser.
The staggering sum would be the largest penalty ever levied on a single company by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.
The fine was first reported by the Wall Street Journal, which cited officials briefed on the settlement terms.
The charges involve Google's use of special computer code, or 'cookies', to trick Apple's Safari browser so Google could monitor users that had blocked such tracking, the newspaper said.
The tracking, which occurred on computers and iPhones, would have allowed the search engine to collect information on users' preferences and search choices.
But Google disabled the code after being contacted by the Journal, which first covered the story in February.
Staff at the search engine told the paper that tracking Apple users was inadvertent and did not cause any harm to consumers.
'The FTC is focused on a 2009 help center page. We have now changed that page and taken steps to remove the ad cookies,' Google said.
But the company's practices sparked an investigation by the Trade Commission into whether it had violated an agreement signed last year.
In the 20-year agreement, Google said it would not misrepresent its privacy practices to users, the Journal reported.
The penalty for violating this agreement is $16,000 per violation per day.
The code was spotted by Stanford researcher Jonathan Mayer. Advisers agreed that scores of ads on websites installed the tracking code.
Google also faces potential sanctions from other governments.
It is being investigated by the European Union to determine if the company complies with Europe's stricter privacy laws, the Journal reported.
Google and FTC could not be reached for comment.
When the Wall Street Journal carried out its investigation earlier this year, it found that the tracking system placed by Google's ad network was on scores of the most visited websites on the internet.
The tracking technology was found on websites on Apple computers and iPhones.
Websites included YouTube, aol.com, about.com, whitepages.com, nytimes.com, tmz.com, match.com and merriam-webster.com.
There is no indication that the sites knew of the tracking code.
www.guardian.co.uk/ (http://www.guardian.co.uk/) technology/ 2012/ apr/ 16/ google-fined-fcc-street-view
Google fined by FCC over Street View
Web giant to pay $25,000 for collecting personal information without permission and impeding investigation
http://trendsupdates.com/google-fined-47-million-for-tax-evasion/
Google has been fined $25,000 for impeding a US investigation into its collection of wireless network data for its Street View project, which allows users to see street level images when they map a location.
The Federal Communications Commission imposed the fine late on Friday, saying Google had collected personal information without permission and had then deliberately not co-operated with the FCC's investigation.
The company collected the data between 2007 and 2010, when a car driving around various locations in the US and, later, Europe, took photos of locations from public places – but also collected information from unprotected Wi-Fi networks, including the location, name and in some cases the content including emails.
The FCC's investigation was left unresolved, according to the New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/16/technology/fccs-google-case-leaves-unanswered-questions.html), because one key participant – the Google engineer in charge of the project – cited Fifth Amendement rights and declined to talk to it. The US constitution's Fifth Amendment protects the right to silence of someone accused by the government of a crime.
"Google refused to identify any employees or produce any emails. The company could not supply compliant declarations without identifying employees it preferred not to identify," said an FCC order dated 13 April. "Misconduct of this nature threatens to compromise the commission's ability to effectively investigate possible violations of the Communications Act and the commission's rules."
Google said at the time that the collection of data from the networks was an error and suggested it was down to an error by those in charge of the information collection. But according to the New York Times, the engineer says that others further up at Google must have known of what was happening.
The discovery of the data collection caused a storm when it was revealed in 2010. European data protection agencies reacted in different ways, with the Irish and UK commissioners suggesting Google should destroy the data without penalty, while in Germany they said they would need to examine it to determine whether any crime had been committed....
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0811/61989.html
Google fined $500 million by feds
Google agreed to forfeit $500 million for helping online Canadian pharmacies to reach American consumers by letting the drug companies place advertisements through its AdWords programs, the Justice Department announced Wednesday.
The $500 million settlement with DOJ is one of the largest forfeiture penalties ever in the United States, the department said. Google acknowledged as part of the deal that it “improperly assisted Canadian online pharmacy advertisers to run advertisements that targeted the United States through AdWords.”
DOJ added that Google “was aware as early as 2003, that generally, it was illegal for pharmacies to ship controlled and non-controlled prescription drugs into the United States from Canada.”
The pact will require Google to take “a number of compliance and reporting measures … in order to [ensure] that the conduct described in the agreement does not occur in the future.”
It is unlawful, in the majority of cases, to import prescription drugs from pharmacies outside the U.S. because it’s likely to violate the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act and or the Controlled Substances Act.
"The Department of Justice will continue to hold accountable companies who in their bid for profits violate federal law and put at risk the health and safety of American consumers," Deputy Attorney General James Cole said in a statement. "This settlement ensures that Google will reform its improper advertising practices with regard to these pharmacies while paying one of the largest financial forfeiture penalties in history."
Google said it has already dealt with the problem.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0811/61989.html#ixzz20FEr4VM4
I'm almost for Google here, Goodness forbid we have cheap pharma
Google Inc is reportedly close to paying $22.5 million to settle charges that it bypassed the privacy settings of customers using Apple's Safari browser.
The staggering sum would be the largest penalty ever levied on a single company by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.
The fine was first reported by the Wall Street Journal, which cited officials briefed on the settlement terms.
The charges involve Google's use of special computer code, or 'cookies', to trick Apple's Safari browser so Google could monitor users that had blocked such tracking, the newspaper said.
The tracking, which occurred on computers and iPhones, would have allowed the search engine to collect information on users' preferences and search choices.
But Google disabled the code after being contacted by the Journal, which first covered the story in February.
Staff at the search engine told the paper that tracking Apple users was inadvertent and did not cause any harm to consumers.
'The FTC is focused on a 2009 help center page. We have now changed that page and taken steps to remove the ad cookies,' Google said.
But the company's practices sparked an investigation by the Trade Commission into whether it had violated an agreement signed last year.
In the 20-year agreement, Google said it would not misrepresent its privacy practices to users, the Journal reported.
The penalty for violating this agreement is $16,000 per violation per day.
The code was spotted by Stanford researcher Jonathan Mayer. Advisers agreed that scores of ads on websites installed the tracking code.
Google also faces potential sanctions from other governments.
It is being investigated by the European Union to determine if the company complies with Europe's stricter privacy laws, the Journal reported.
Google and FTC could not be reached for comment.
When the Wall Street Journal carried out its investigation earlier this year, it found that the tracking system placed by Google's ad network was on scores of the most visited websites on the internet.
The tracking technology was found on websites on Apple computers and iPhones.
Websites included YouTube, aol.com, about.com, whitepages.com, nytimes.com, tmz.com, match.com and merriam-webster.com.
There is no indication that the sites knew of the tracking code.
www.guardian.co.uk/ (http://www.guardian.co.uk/) technology/ 2012/ apr/ 16/ google-fined-fcc-street-view
Google fined by FCC over Street View
Web giant to pay $25,000 for collecting personal information without permission and impeding investigation
http://trendsupdates.com/google-fined-47-million-for-tax-evasion/
Google has been fined $25,000 for impeding a US investigation into its collection of wireless network data for its Street View project, which allows users to see street level images when they map a location.
The Federal Communications Commission imposed the fine late on Friday, saying Google had collected personal information without permission and had then deliberately not co-operated with the FCC's investigation.
The company collected the data between 2007 and 2010, when a car driving around various locations in the US and, later, Europe, took photos of locations from public places – but also collected information from unprotected Wi-Fi networks, including the location, name and in some cases the content including emails.
The FCC's investigation was left unresolved, according to the New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/16/technology/fccs-google-case-leaves-unanswered-questions.html), because one key participant – the Google engineer in charge of the project – cited Fifth Amendement rights and declined to talk to it. The US constitution's Fifth Amendment protects the right to silence of someone accused by the government of a crime.
"Google refused to identify any employees or produce any emails. The company could not supply compliant declarations without identifying employees it preferred not to identify," said an FCC order dated 13 April. "Misconduct of this nature threatens to compromise the commission's ability to effectively investigate possible violations of the Communications Act and the commission's rules."
Google said at the time that the collection of data from the networks was an error and suggested it was down to an error by those in charge of the information collection. But according to the New York Times, the engineer says that others further up at Google must have known of what was happening.
The discovery of the data collection caused a storm when it was revealed in 2010. European data protection agencies reacted in different ways, with the Irish and UK commissioners suggesting Google should destroy the data without penalty, while in Germany they said they would need to examine it to determine whether any crime had been committed....
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0811/61989.html
Google fined $500 million by feds
Google agreed to forfeit $500 million for helping online Canadian pharmacies to reach American consumers by letting the drug companies place advertisements through its AdWords programs, the Justice Department announced Wednesday.
The $500 million settlement with DOJ is one of the largest forfeiture penalties ever in the United States, the department said. Google acknowledged as part of the deal that it “improperly assisted Canadian online pharmacy advertisers to run advertisements that targeted the United States through AdWords.”
DOJ added that Google “was aware as early as 2003, that generally, it was illegal for pharmacies to ship controlled and non-controlled prescription drugs into the United States from Canada.”
The pact will require Google to take “a number of compliance and reporting measures … in order to [ensure] that the conduct described in the agreement does not occur in the future.”
It is unlawful, in the majority of cases, to import prescription drugs from pharmacies outside the U.S. because it’s likely to violate the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act and or the Controlled Substances Act.
"The Department of Justice will continue to hold accountable companies who in their bid for profits violate federal law and put at risk the health and safety of American consumers," Deputy Attorney General James Cole said in a statement. "This settlement ensures that Google will reform its improper advertising practices with regard to these pharmacies while paying one of the largest financial forfeiture penalties in history."
Google said it has already dealt with the problem.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0811/61989.html#ixzz20FEr4VM4
I'm almost for Google here, Goodness forbid we have cheap pharma