On August 10, 2012, it was reported that the Internet giant Google was fined a record $ 22.5 million by the US Federal Trade Commission. Such impressive penalties were imposed on the company for the illegal use of confidential user information.
For the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), this penalty was the largest for the entire period of its operation. Google was accused of spying on users of Apple's Safari browser using some of its vulnerabilities. In particular, Google specialists were able to bypass the Safari security system and gained access to cookies - small text files used to identify a user when entering the server.
The "cookies" store information about the visited resources. Stealing these files is quite common for hackers - by substituting stolen cookies into their browser, an attacker can log into someone else's account. When the Federal Trade Commission received a complaint that Google, without notifying users, was using cookies stored in browsers to track their movements on the web, this action by the Internet giant was immediately declared illegal.
Google did not agree with the accusations, insisting that the information was collected exclusively about users' movements on the network, all information was transmitted strictly anonymously, so the company's actions could not cause any harm to users. In addition, truly confidential information was not tracked - for example, personal data of users, credit card numbers, etc.
Google's explanation did not satisfy the FTC. The commission said that the company, regardless of its size, is obliged to comply with all FTC rules and not violate consumers' privacy rights. Otherwise, she will face even greater fines. It's worth noting that a previous record $ 15 million fine was imposed on brokerage firm ChoisPoint for leaking sensitive data. Now Google has become the record holder for the amount of the fine.
Why would Google want to track users? Information about which sites a person visits allows us to judge his interests. This means that it becomes possible to serve him with relevant advertising, which makes it much more effective.
After the scandal broke out, Google promised to delete the collected cookies. Interestingly, in 2011, a conflict arose between the FTC and Google on the same basis, then the company promised not to track the movements of Safari users if they did not want to. Now it turns out that the internet giant hasn't kept its promise.
