Strike three: FTC says Meta still failing to protect user privacy The US Federal Trade Commission is preparing to take action against Facebook parent company Meta for a third time over claims it failed to protect user privacy, as required under a 2020 agreement Meta made with the regulator. The FTC said that Meta has failed to fully comply with the order, and it also alleges Zuckercorp …
And the only answer will be "We're sorry, we goofed. Won't do it again. No need to fine us."
Of course The Zuck is going to fight. Selling access to data is what made his fortune, and that is more important to him than anything else.
Slap him in prison for five years, that might shake some sense into his thick skull.
Probably a few more times.
While it's nice to hear at least an acknowledgment that 1) the regulators know they are toothless and 2) Metaface is drying it's tears of laughter with stacks of 100$ bills from the massive pile of profits from ignoring the regulators for decades.
Injunctions are the only thing that Facebook will care about. Start using them or stop pretending that the regulators are even trying to rein them in.
I agree. Instead of these stupid fixed dollar fines, they need to be made proportional to the company's gross revenue for the previous FY. Not only does it make the whole thing more fair, applying equally to big and small companies alike, but it would actually hurt big companies. I don't care if you're Facebook or a single person startup running out of someone's garage, if you get fined 10% of your gross revenue for the previous FY, it's going to hurt.
Until such time as executives get sent to jail (and by that I mean a 'proper' jail, not the glorified holiday home used for white collar crime), even higher fines will do exactly squat. This is exactly what the term "the cost of doing business" was invented for. The only solution to change behaviour is to make it personal. Oh, and maybe speed things up so they don't get the chance to die of old age first.
An alternative is mandatory cancellation to the right to privacy for a duration - let them experience what they do to others. The only problem I have with that is that is more likely to have ugly side effects than a jail sentence as it can impact the family. Although they naturally benefit from the proceeds of crime, so to speak, they're not at fault.
Those are the only things that will get their attention.
Funny though when a low level criminal defies the courts, the police will happily knock down the front of a building to take them in.
Until multi-billion dollar white collar crime is treated seriously, companies like Facebook will never change.
companies like Facebook
Make that the whole of Wall Street too, where nobody went to prison the last time they flat out ignored the rules and rating agencies didn't. And they're at it again (and failing again, just slower), just in case you didn't notice, even CDOs are back. Unbelievable.
The Simpsons had it right:
"I should put you away where you can't kill or maim us. But this is LA, and your rich and famous."
According to https://investor.fb.com/investor-news/press-release-details/2021/Facebook-Reports-Fourth-Quarter-and-Full-Year-2020-Results/default.aspx their total costs and expenses in 2020 were 53,294 million $.
A 5,000 million$ civil penalty for violations from 2012 - 2020 would come to 625 million$ per year on average and thus could be considered to increase their operation costs by less than 1.2%. Hardly a big incentive to get them to play by the rules.
It is however enough money to spend a few millions on lawyers trying to reduce the fine and keep the FTC busy.
A company whose entire business model is based on collecting user's personal info and then selling it is not fully complying with an order to do something detrimental to its business, and might be misleading people to get MORE personal info? I'm shocked! This is my shocked face. ----->
Facebook has been aggressively violating user privacy (and even the privacy of people who don't use it!) for nearly 20 years now. And it's been lying for nearly as long about its privacy protections, how it deliberately turns off your privacy protections, how it buys up data from every online source you go near and all your financial info*, and what it does with that data. Every time Zuck or whassername gets called before Congress they spout new Big Lies about what they've done, why they've done it, and what they're going to be doing. And for that entire time the members of Congress have been slack jawed stupid suckers and nod and believe the lies they've been told. That seems to be fraying lately, though.
* For instance, even if you're reading this but not on Facebook, they know you exist, and they have a unique profile for you associated with your tax data, your employment history, all your credit card transactions, your bank transactions, your health history, your car insurance, where you live, what car you drive, who else is in your family, etc. etc. If they have any photos of you (say from the DVLA or DMV) then they are quietly tagging you in every photo a Facebook member uploads. If you have a forum history, they may have that. They do this for being a 'third party partner' that pays other companies to pass on all their data about everyone. If there's some entity who knows something about you, Facebook knows it. Often even an entity that wouldn't sell their data directly to Facebook (the DVLA might have a twinge about it) usually has other third parties they're using as consultants, and Facebook gets it from them. I hate Facebook, I've never used it, but they know more about me than my mum does.
> Congress have been slack jawed stupid suckers and nod and believe the lies they've been told.
Oh come now, Congress Creatures don't *really* believe the lies.
After all, as often as not they've been paid to play along with the charade.
Which is not to say a bunch of Congress aren't also really, genuinely, stupid. Or at least, woefully ignorant of technology and how the world in general outside their politics bubble works. Or doesn't work, for that matter.
"This is the third time the FTC has taken action against Facebook for allegedly failing to protect users' privacy,"
That's two too many. It just prove the FTC is toothless.
Seen how the US is serious about privacy protection, I would suggest the FTC to make another deal with Feckbook and check in 2026 if Feckbook follows the rules. If it doesn't in 2029, then make a new agreement.
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