FTC Approves Roughly $5 Billion Facebook Settlement (wsj.com) 65
The Federal Trade Commission voted this week to approve a roughly $5 billion settlement with Facebook over a long-running probe into the tech giant's privacy missteps, WSJ reported Friday, citing people familiar with the matter [Editor's note: the link may be paywalled; alternative source]. From the report: The 3-2 vote by FTC commissioners broke along party lines, with the Republican majority lining up to support the pact while Democratic commissioners objected, the people said. The matter has been moved to the Justice Department's civil division and it is unclear how long it will take to finalize, the person said. Justice Department reviews are part of the FTC's procedure but typically don't change the outcome of an FTC decision. A settlement is expected to include other government restrictions on how Facebook treats user privacy. The additional terms of the settlement couldn't immediately be learned. An FTC spokeswoman declined to comment, as did a Facebook spokesman. Facebook said April 24 that it was expecting to pay up to $5 billion to settle the probe. A resolution was bogged down by a split between Republicans and Democrats on the FTC, with the Democrats pushing for tougher oversight of the social-media giant.
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"The 3-2 vote by FTC commissioners broke along party lines, with the Republican majority lining up to support the pact while Democratic commissioners objected."
Another huge corporation gets slap on the wrist... (Score:3, Informative)
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for screwing over the people of the United States. News at 11.
How is a $5 billion fine a slap on the wrist in any way, shape or form?
THAT WAS A RHETORICAL QUESTION.
How did the post get modded so high so fast is the real question. The fine amount is literally in the title of the submission, so "did not RTFA"... or RTFS does not even begin to explain it.
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To the cowardly shit-for-brains who modded down my post rather than replying: Please tell me how Facebook selling your information to advertisers caused you some type of tangible financial harm, or show me on the doll where Zuckerburg touched you.
Facebook is a scummy organization, but there are plenty of companies getting away with a lot worse. There's ones overcharging for live-saving medicines, for-profit prisons, and one of my personal pet peeves - telecommunications monopolies.
My point, which wouldn't
So the delay was about... (Score:2)
which politicians were getting their piece of the $5 billion and how much in this obvious payoff in a cost of doing corrupt business.
What do those who's privacy was violated get?
Re:So the delay was about... (Score:4, Informative)
The politicians don't get a piece of the $5 billion. It goes to the government. The politicians get shockingly small campaign contributions (like $20,000-$100,000 each with a total of $7,000,000 over a decade) to make the fine only $5 billion instead of $10 billion.
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The politicians don't get a piece of the $5 billion. It goes to the government. The politicians get shockingly small campaign contributions (like $20,000-$100,000 each with a total of $7,000,000 over a decade) to make the fine only $5 billion instead of $10 billion.
It has always amazed me that renting an American politicians is so cheap.
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It has always amazed me that renting an American politicians is so cheap.
Not in this case.
Facebook and Zuckerberg donate almost exclusively to Democrats and progressive causes.
Yet the Democrats pushed for even tougher penalties, while the Republicans unanimously supported the more lenient punishment.
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Also worth noting is that they charged Clinton far more for advertising (per-ad) than Trump on the lead up to the last Presidential election.
That's because nobody clicks on the Hillary ads.
Not true (Score:4, Insightful)
The only politician I know who's stayed clean and been in politics for any length of time is Bernie Sanders (Warren has some questionable defense industry ties that while I can't blame her for nonetheless exist). As near as I can tell his book actually sold to people too, which is crazy 'cause the guy was givin' the contents away free on his YouTube channel and at Parks around the country
For anyone wondering what he's referring to (Score:3)
The establishment has thrown everything they can at Bernie and nothing sticks because he's more saintly than the Pope. If he wasn't he'd have been taken out just like Al Grayson was when he tried to get Americans Universal Healthcare.
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The last few Popes have been complicit in covering up child sex abuse, so that's not that high a bar anymore.
It's an expression (Score:2)
Opensecrets.org (Score:2)
Proportionality of fines (Score:3)
I understand that in at least one of the northern-European countries, when somebody is fined the amount is calculated on the basis of the income of the person being fined. Companies should be fined on the same basis. $5B sounds like a lot of money, but it probably is little more than pocket change for Facebook. In fact, they may regard it as a sort of registration fee to access realms that will make them vastly reacher.
As long as companies don't suffer enough as a result of fines imposed on them, such companies will carry on doing what they are doing.
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Such legislation already exists for corporations in Europe, and it covers this specific topic. It’s called GDPR, and fines are up to 4% of global revenues. See this week’s penalties against British Airways and Marriott.
That said, those fines pale in comparison to what the US regulators just threw down against Facebook. If you think 5 billion USD is chump change, then at the very least you’re being disingenuous. This is a substantial and appropriate penalty.
What i want them to do. (Score:1)
I don't much care if they are fined or not, I just want them to stop collecting data about me if I never signed up. That goes just as much for Google. And every other sleazeball company doing it.
If I signed up and agreed with your TOS, fine. If I have nothing to do with you, then stop aggregating data about me using the most underhanded and covert tactics.
If person did that we call it "stalking" and they can go to prison if they persist. Facebook and Google should be held to the same stalking standards
Anyway (Score:2)
"The $5 billion settlement didn't even cover the day's federal borrowing, which is smashing all records this year."