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FTC Imposes $5B Penalty and Sweeping New Privacy Restrictions on Facebook

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Re: FTC Imposes $5B Penalty and Sweeping New Privacy Restrictions on Facebook

#51

Post by flattone »

morley wrote: post #33
jawns wrote: post #8

A lot of the terms of the settlement deal with organizational changes, but when you look at the very specific privacy restrictions that Facebook agreed to, it's really, really problematic stuff: * Facebook is prohibited from using telephone numbers obtained to enable a security feature (e.g., two-factor authentication) for advertising; * Facebook must provide clear and conspicuous notice of its use of facial recognit…

Some of the organizational changes are substantial. Having an independent privacy force review all existing and new product features for privacy implications can be a huge drain on velocity, especially if they demand a lot of changes. But really, this is how organizations should be run: there should be a user-privacy-focused resource inside the company that can work with product to guide how features get implemented.…

good f fb

Re: FTC Imposes $5B Penalty and Sweeping New Privacy Restrictions on Facebook

#52

Post by peteretep »

rkagerer wrote: post #44
watwatinthewat wrote: post #26

I don't think I agree with Facebook getting a bigger fine than Equifax. I put my own information on FB. Equifax compiled information on me without my explicit consent. Both sets of data got into hands they shouldn't. I realize that misses FB willfully doing what they did and Equifax not intending to be hacked, but for me my consent is equal or more important than what the holders of the data did after they had it. Le…

As a Canadian I'm frustrated our agencies aren't seeking compensation on behalf of affected consumers or taking more aggressive steps to hold Equifax accountable. Frankly, I'm surprised and disappointed nobody here has started a class action to go after both Equifax, as well as the companies who shared my data with them without my explicit consent.

I think regrettably, y'all aren't big enough to make it happen, and doubly so with a protectionist president in the US. Being part of the EU I think is a big win for European countries on this front -- always stronger as part of a gang.

Re: FTC Imposes $5B Penalty and Sweeping New Privacy Restrictions on Facebook

#53

Post by mda »

swebs wrote: post #18

>Facebook must exercise greater oversight over third-party apps, including by terminating app developers that fail to certify that they are in compliance with Facebook’s platform policies or fail to justify their need for specific user data; >Facebook is prohibited from using telephone numbers obtained to enable a security feature (e.g., two-factor authentication) for advertising; >Facebook must provide clear and con…

Which of the items in this list currently applies to Google or Microsoft?

Re: FTC Imposes $5B Penalty and Sweeping New Privacy Restrictions on Facebook

#54

Post by peteretep »

ijpoijpoihpiuoh wrote: post #24
bogwog wrote: post #11

That fine is a joke. They make like 5x that amount every month.

It's 1/4 of their annual net income. It's far from a joke, but it is true that it isn't ruinous.

Depending on their profit margin, although I suspect it's bigger than 25%

Re: FTC Imposes $5B Penalty and Sweeping New Privacy Restrictions on Facebook

#55

Post by okmokmz »

watwatinthewat wrote: post #26

I don't think I agree with Facebook getting a bigger fine than Equifax. I put my own information on FB. Equifax compiled information on me without my explicit consent. Both sets of data got into hands they shouldn't. I realize that misses FB willfully doing what they did and Equifax not intending to be hacked, but for me my consent is equal or more important than what the holders of the data did after they had it. Le…

Facebook also tracks and keeps profiles of people that are not users of the service, have not given their consent, and have not willingly intended to provide any information to Facebook.

Re: FTC Imposes $5B Penalty and Sweeping New Privacy Restrictions on Facebook

#56

Post by Dirlewanger »

vikramkr wrote: post #12
linuxdude314 wrote: post #2

If there isn't escalation in price for violations past this in the future, this may just be the new price to play ball.

This is not a sustainable amount to be fined. I think they made a net income around 20 billion last year, this a quarter of that. A couple more of these fines and that's a really dangerous situation - companies at Facebook's stage are valued on multiples of earnings with growth, not revenues, and 75 to 50 percent reduction in earnings wiped a lot of shareholder value off the table, meaning the shareholders (basically…

These kinds of fines are rarely lump-sums. The FTC will probably have Facebook on a nice 10 year plan for them to pay it.

Re: FTC Imposes $5B Penalty and Sweeping New Privacy Restrictions on Facebook

#57

Post by OliverJones »

linuxdude314 wrote: post #2

If there isn't escalation in price for violations past this in the future, this may just be the new price to play ball.

According to Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway, this fine is far too small to make a difference to Facebook's behavior.

A fine of a size that exceeded their free cash ($40 billion) would have given FB a huge incentive to clean up their act. A fine of this size is nothing but a toll to pay.

Re: FTC Imposes $5B Penalty and Sweeping New Privacy Restrictions on Facebook

#58

Post by usefulcat »

watwatinthewat wrote: post #26

I don't think I agree with Facebook getting a bigger fine than Equifax. I put my own information on FB. Equifax compiled information on me without my explicit consent. Both sets of data got into hands they shouldn't. I realize that misses FB willfully doing what they did and Equifax not intending to be hacked, but for me my consent is equal or more important than what the holders of the data did after they had it. Le…

Consider also that Facebook's current market cap (the value of the company according to the stock market) is approximately 34 times the current market cap of Equifax ($575 billion vs $17 billion).

Re: FTC Imposes $5B Penalty and Sweeping New Privacy Restrictions on Facebook

#59

Post by ad-hominem »

SilasX wrote: post #9
soulofmischief wrote: post #4

Can anyone with a firmer understanding of the issue tell me if this is an appropriate penalty or not? Should we expect to see some of these prohibitions generalized to more companies? * Facebook is prohibited from using telephone numbers obtained to enable a security feature (e.g., two-factor authentication) for advertising * Facebook must encrypt user passwords and regularly scan to detect whether any passwords are…

>Facebook is prohibited from using telephone numbers obtained to enable a security feature (e.g., two-factor authentication) for advertising Yeah, I'm honestly surprised that one wasn't already illegal.

Why would it be illegal? If you voluntarily give your phone number to a company, it can do whatever it wants with it. If you don't want them to have it, don't give it to them.
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