In early August 2012, information appeared that the world famous company Google was fined $ 22.5 million. For the Internet giant, this is not too large a sum - the company paid it off, but did not agree with the charges brought against it.
Google was fined by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the reason was the complaint that the Internet company is monitoring users of the Safari browser. After a short trial, the tracking facts were confirmed, and Google was fined.
It turned out that the company's specialists were able to bypass the browser's security settings, which allowed them to view cookies - small text files that allow the server to identify the user. Sometimes "cookies" contain an encrypted password for automatic access to the resource, but more often the cookies remain valid within one session - after entering the site, the user no longer has to re-enter credentials when going to another page, identification is carried out thanks to the saved "cookies" …
Google was accused of the fact that thanks to the cookies they viewed, the company's specialists tracked which sites the user visited, thus figuring out his range of preferences. This, in turn, allowed him to deliver targeted advertising, which is precisely what was the main reason for the Internet giant to track users. Targeted advertising to a specific user is much more effective than regular advertising.
In response to the accusations, Google said that the information was transmitted over closed channels, users did not suffer any damage. Information that is truly confidential, such as bank card numbers, account details, etc., was not collected.
Despite the explanations, the company was still fined. The main reason for this was that Google already had a conflict in 2011 with the Federal Trade Commission on the same issue. Then the Internet giant promised not to use the personal information of Safari users without their consent, but the promise was never fulfilled. This is what caused such a tough and uncompromising response from the FTC.
