FTC fines Facebook $5bn for making users believe they actually had control over their data Evil empire Facebook's devil-may-care attitude to privacy has bitten it on the backside – the Federal Trade Commission has imposed a record $5bn penalty for "deceiving users" about their control over private data. The FTC said the antisocial network violated a 2012 order by misleading members into thinking they were actually …
Well now the FTC has successfully sued, that should set an easier precedent for other governments around the world to follow. I hope they do follow.
Severe financial penalties and compliance regime, backed by strong criminal pentalties for responsible individuals failing to ensure compliance, in every country, seem the only way to rein this lot in. They made their bed playing fast and loose with user privacy, now let them lie in it.
Jail would be nice, in an not so nice sort of US penitentiary way. Even better would be the board of Facebook unanimously voting to remove Zuckerberg permanently from Facebook and its offices and then embarking on a restructuring to remove his "method" of management from the company.
All he had to do is shut facebook down, just that. Facebook is harmful to community it does people no good, the decision to shut facebook down would transform Zuckerberg form villain to world class hero, overnight.
Shut facebook down, collect the Nobel Peace Prize, then try to fix facebook if at all possible. If successful (a long shot) put that fixed facebook back up again.
puss filled sores
Amusing misspelling - especially as cats (being primary carnivores) won't touch carrion or anything rotting unless they are really, really hungry..
(A good methos of testing whether that cooked meat that's been in the fridge for a week is safe to eat is to offer it to a well-fed cat (their sense of smell isn't a good as a dogs but it's a magnitude better than ours). If the cat won't touch it then it's probably not safe.. Don't try this technique with a dog..)
" the decision to shut facebook down would transform Zuckerberg form villain to world class hero, overnight."
Actually it wouldn't make him a hero, just an ex-villain and the defendant in a class action from the shareholders who'd want their money back.
Facebook squirreled away funds for this exact situation. They *anticipated* that this would happened. That means this is nothing more than the 'cost of doing business'.
In addition, based on their performance in the past with companies like Microsoft, I have zero faith that these supposed measures will accomplish anything of value. Facebook will pay lipservice to the FTC and carry on as before.
Actually, there are evidences that even if Microsoft was broken up it had to become much more careful and its behaviour inevitably changed. And it had to publish its protocols which lead to far better interoperability with Linux and the then new mobile platforms. Nor they could find ways to crush the new browsers.
Investigation after investigation, and fine after fine, should make Zuckerberg & Sandberg a little more careful too.
The money they "squirrelled away" had to come from somewhere. It would be money that might otherwise have been paid as dividends or invested in some other nastiness aspect of the business.
Of course it's a cost of doing business. A business has only costs*, income and profits or losses which are the difference between the first two. Yes, a fine adds to the costs. It's intended to. What did you think it should have done?
* It has capital from investors and maybe borrowings but these exist to cover the costs until the income rolls in.
Facebook will also be ordered to detail events when 500 or more users' data has been compromised, along with its efforts to deal with the incident within 30 days of discovery.
If that data is subject to GDPR, they've got 72 hours to inform regulators and users when 1 or more users' data has been compromised. Good job BoJo is going to save us from this red-tape ridiculousness!
You might be wrong. Johnson has been deriving most of his income from the "Daily Telegraph" (the clue to the approach to technology is in the title) whose owners not only opposed the EU and the Euro but also dismissed the Internet. I suspect that shutting down those upstart companies in the US would do wonders for the Barclays's business model.
The only concessions with the GDPR will be massive derogations for the security services and anything that might sound like phone hacking.
facebook shares rising by $6bn on a $5bn fine? That's great, give it another fine but bigger for a bigger share price rise. Better still, do it multiple times.
Even better, why not put facebook inside a virtuous loop?
10 if Big fine Then Big share price rise
20 GoTo 10
facebook shareholders will thank you for it.
P.S. If Mexico won't pay for the wall then zuck will (got that one from comment below)
"... be forced to make its execs accountable for the decisions they make"
And the fact that this can be stated as something to be imposed, and not something automatic and explicit across all execs in all companies in all industries is itself a huge part of the problem - at least, in my view.
"Oh, we broke the law? Ah. Oops. Well, we didn't mean it, honest. Here's some money. So that's alright then, right?" No. It isn't. You broke the law? Go to court, get found guilty and go to jail.
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Look what the FTC under this administration has done = It's reelection season
Facebook's transgressions = a pot hole
Government allows obvious problems to fester until it is useful to fix them.
In our neck of the woods the roads don't get repaired until the campaign yard signs go up.
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