The U.S. District Court in San Francisco is inclined to...
The U.S. District Court in San Francisco is inclined to approve the FTC’s $22.5 million settlement with Google over alleged privacy violations, Judge Susan Illston said during a hearing Friday, the San Jose Mercury News reported. Illston asked attorneys for…
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Google and the agency whether the company would be allowed to use data improperly collected from users of Apple’s Safari browser. Google allegedly circumvented cookie controls in Safari (WID Aug 10 p1). “My preliminary view is to grant the request to approve the order,” and she will issue a ruling “soon,” Illston said. She disagreed with attorney Gary Reback, representing Google critic Consumer Watchdog, that the fine was too small in relation to Google’s nearly $10 billion profit in 2011, but was interested in his argument that the settlement doesn’t stop Google from using improperly collected data. FTC lawyer Adrienne Fowler told Illston the data are outdated and have “negligible value.” The Information Technology & Innovation Foundation said separately Friday the settlement showed the FTC was too focused on penalizing companies for actions that don’t result in “actual harm” to consumers. Companies “should not face punitive sanctions for actions that do not cause consumer harm and are taken in good faith,” said Senior Analyst Daniel Castro by email: The FTC instead should direct its “limited resources” toward “cases where users suffer real harm or companies intentionally tried to mislead users."