Google to Pay Another $17 Million for Circumventing Privacy Settings
A year after being assessed a record-setting $22.5 million fine by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, Google has agreed to pay another $17 million to settle similar claims brought by 37 states and the District of Columbia for circumventing Apple’s Safari browser privacy settings. The claims were directed to Google’s use of targeted ads by using cookies, or a small file installed on a user’s browser that provide a record of the user’s web browsing history. Despite the settlement, Google maintains that no private information was gathered and that cookies were subsequently inserted as a result of unforeseen behavior by Safari. The company has stated that it had taken steps to prevent overriding Safari’s privacy settings after the practice was reported by the media in early 2012.
Interestingly, a Delaware judge dismissed a class-action suit filed on behalf of users over the same issue, finding that the plaintiffs had not sufficiently alleged that any harm had occurred.
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