FTC Imposes $5 Billion Penalty and Privacy Restrictions on Facebook

[Brink]

Facebook, Inc. will pay a record-breaking $5 billion penalty, and submit to new restrictions and a modified corporate structure that will hold the company accountable for the decisions it makes about its users’ privacy, to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that the company violated a 2012 FTC order by deceiving users about their ability to control the privacy of their personal information.

The $5 billion penalty against Facebook is the largest ever imposed on any company for violating consumers’ privacy and almost 20 times greater than the largest privacy or data security penalty ever imposed worldwide. It is one of the largest penalties ever assessed by the U.S. government for any violation.

The settlement order announced today also imposes unprecedented new restrictions on Facebook’s business operations and creates multiple channels of compliance. The order requires Facebook to restructure its approach to privacy from the corporate board-level down, and establishes strong new mechanisms to ensure that Facebook executives are accountable for the decisions they make about privacy, and that those decisions are subject to meaningful oversight...

Read more: FTC Imposes $5 Billion Penalty and Sweeping New Privacy Restrictions on Facebook | Federal Trade Commission

 

[Melchior]

isn't $5 Billion a bit unreasonable?
That is a lot of MONEY!?


how will this fine effect us end users...?!

 

[file3456]

Now to go after Google et al.

 

[Paul Black]

When FB first started I could see how things were going to go.

My privacy is paramount to me and I will only share [to the best of my ability] what I want to share rather than having my data passed around like pass the parcel.

Hopefully this fine will flow through to other organisations that don't seem to care about peoples privacy as long as there is money in it for them. In the UK I am talking about banks, insurance companies, credit card companies etc to name a very very few. I get junk mail through my letterbox that I have no idea as to how they got my name and address!

Obviously in todays world it is extremely difficult to fly below the radar! I do try to achieve this online by having a couple of throw away email addresses etc.

I could write about this extensively but I think I have made my point.

 

[RoWin7]

6 email addresses. 4 addresses funnel into main address
no Google products except Youtube
Search engines Duckduckgo and Startpage
Clear my cookies with ever browser shutdown, allow only 5
Clear my supercookies regularly
Different ID and 14-character PW on each site
dropped Mozilla Firefox, moved to Waterfox
No smart-phone
No social networking
I could go on and on too

I hope the fine puts FB out of business. It serves no necessary purpose for the consumer

 

[RoWin7]

"In the UK I am talking about banks, insurance companies, credit card companies etc to name a very very few."

Here, too

 

[Paul Black]

Hi RoWin7,

Clear my cookies with ever browser shutdown, allow only 5
Clear my supercookies regularly
Different ID and 14-character PW on each site
No social networking

Pretty much the same for me too!

 

[RoWin7]

Are you already married? I'm attaching a selfie.

And yes, I already know that. Everyone has told me.

 

[ShadouFox]

isn't $5 Billion a bit unreasonable?
That is a lot of MONEY!?

'Bout damn time! I don't think 5 Gigabux is unreasonable. It's the only thing that'll get through to Zuckerberg.

how will this fine effect us end users...?!

You shouldn't be using Facebook in the first place. I never had an account, and I have no intention of ever having one.

 

[Paul Black]

I never had an account, and I have no intention of ever having one.

Me too!

 

[z3r010]

I have an account and never post anything, however, I check it daily as it's an invaluable source of local news and info for me that I could find nowhere else.

 

[RoWin7]

Me, neither, nor any social media. I don't delude myself that strangers are eager to hear what I had for breakfast.

 

[RoWin7]

I have an account and never post anything, however, I check it daily as it's an invaluable source of local news and info for me that I could find nowhere else.

No newspapers, radio or TV stations where you live?

 

[z3r010]

Most local newspapers closed down years ago, the local radio is all going national and tbh they wouldn't have the quality or quantity of local news I can get from social media.