Reuters: Technology News: Google to pay $22.5 million to settle privacy charges: WSJ

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Google to pay $22.5 million to settle privacy charges: WSJ Jul 10th 2012, 05:06 Tweet Share this Email Print Related News Google offers to settle EU antitrust probe Mon, Jul 2 2012 Google's Chrome browser to be available on Apple's iPad, iPhone Thu, Jun 28 2012 Judge blocks Apple in Google smartphone war Sat, Jun 23 2012 Dow Jones shakes up management in reorg Tue, Jun 19 2012 Apple takes on Google with own maps, better Siri Mon, Jun 11 2012 Analysis & Opinion How the byline beast was born As video chat becomes easier, text chats still rule People visit Google's stand at the National Retail Federation Annual Convention and Expo in New York January 16, 2012. Credit: Reuters/ Kena Betancur Tue Jul 10, 2012 1:06am EDT (Reuters) - Google Inc is close to paying $22.5 million to settle charges that it bypassed the privacy settings of customers using Apple's Safari browser, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing officials briefed on the settlement terms. The fine would be the largest penalty ever levied on a single company by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, the Journal said late Monday. The charges involve Google's use of special computer code, or "cookies," to trick Apple's Safari browser so Google could monitor users that had blocked such tracking, the newspaper said. Google disabled the code after being contacted by the Journal. According to Google, tracking of Apple users was inadvertent and did not cause any harm to consumers, the newspaper reported. "The FTC is focused on a 2009 help center page. We have now changed that page and taken steps to remove the ad cookies," Google told the Journal. Google also faces potential sanctions from other governments. It is being investigated by the European Union to determine if the company complies with Europe's stricter privacy laws, the Journal reported. An FTC spokeswoman declined to comment to the Journal. Google and FTC could not be reached for comment by Reuters outside regular U.S. business hours. (Reporting by Sakthi Prasad in Bangalore; Editing by Matt Driskill) Related Quotes and News Company Price Related News Tweet this Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/ Comments (0) Be the first to comment on reuters.com. Add yours using the box above.

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