Google hit with $314m fine for collecting data from idle Android phones without permission
Google has been ordered to pay $314.6 million to Android phone users in California for collecting data from idle phones.
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Years ago, when this policy was first being contemplated, someone at google plugged a number, likely larger than this, into a spreadsheet analyzing the cost/benefit of spying on their customers.
This is just post-activation operating expense from their perspective.
Google made 100 billion last year.
300 million is barely a blip.
The fine should have been 30 billion.
if the fines arent big enough to seriously hurt a company, Then the fines are not big enough to change their behavior.
They just become a tax on evil.
If you earn like 100k a year its like being slapped with a 300 $ fine just to put it into perspective.
100k AFTER all your expenses.
They should definitely be higher than what they are, even the GDPR fines are a joke, its likely added to a line "legal expenses" in their expenses.
While it looks like the EU fines are ramping up over time, it still just feels silly right now. But I guess that is intentional.
Base it not off the entire company, base it off the value of doing this. They didnt make 100 billion off unapproved android user data collection.
This argument is common and while fines should be higher, the idea that they dont matter unless they are 10% of earnings is ridiculous.
Because all the "slap on the wrist" fines have worked so well to modify corporate rapism... /s
Yeah I'd agree that there is a lack of enforcement in some aspects but moreso a lack of regulation and legislation in others.
There needs to be a better commitment to addressing trends in capitalism than reacting to their overstepping.
These fines worked in 1957.
They don't work today.
Its not an overreach to increase fines to a relative point commiserate with current earnings, so that they can actually harm a company and by doing so discourage future illicit behavior.
To try and claim otherwise is some corpo rat bullshit.
These fines come on the heels of willful behavior, that they believe they can make money off of even accounting for the fines.. Which turns the fine into nothing more than a tax. With higher fines, that can destroy their profits and damage their company, they won't be so eager to pencil evil into the expense line.
I'm 70 years old and that still hasn't happened. Bring back the guillotine, I say. Anything less is just the price of a permit.
