Google nears settlement in Apple privacy suit: report

Reported by AFP
Wednesday, July 11, 2012

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Google is expected to pay $22.5 million to settle a lawsuit over its secret bypassing of privacy settings of millions of Apple users.

The fine would be the largest penalty ever levied on a single company by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) but would amount to just five hours' worth of revenue for the tech giant, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Google and the FTC have reached a proposed settlement and agreed on a fine, but the deal awaits final approval by the regulators and could be changed before it is released to the public.

Google was accused in February of using special "cookies" to bypass Apple and Microsoft privacy settings, allowing the search giant to secretly track the surfing habits of millions of users and target them with ads.

Google stopped using the offending cookies after the allegations surfaced, and has characterised the situation as the unintended side effect of an effort to personalise Google accounts.

26/05/2013 18:05Sydney, Australia. 26 May,2013
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