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Facebook Expects to Be Fined Up to $5B by FTC Over Privacy Issues

nytimes.com

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Re: Facebook Expects to Be Fined Up to $5B by FTC Over Privacy Issues

#21

Post by ergothus »

dangerboysteve wrote: post #9
minimaxir wrote: post #2

> Every insider I've spoken to said any FTC fine on Facebook under $10 billion would be seen as a massive win, showing firm won't face serious consequences for privacy violations. Wall St. seems to agree in response to news of $3-$5b settlement [$FB up 4% after hours] https://twitter.com/lhfang/status/1121148735818358784

Facebook will not acknowledge any wrongdoing as part of the settlement....Which is what I expect the script to read. If the settlement happens, I imagine this would provide some weight behind any class action lawsuit.

> will not acknowledge any wrongdoing as part of the settlement

This bugs the heck out of me (in general, not specific to this case). What is point of letting them claim innocence? How does this benefit the consumer?

I can see occasional exceptions where it's clearly a case of misunderstandings so you don't want to bring down the full hammer...but I honestly can't remember more than one such case where someone DID acknowledge wrongdoing.

Re: Facebook Expects to Be Fined Up to $5B by FTC Over Privacy Issues

#23

Post by AdmiralAsshat »

Seems like they should add another 0 to the fine after the recent hat trick:

1) Prompting users to give Facebook their email passwords.[0]

2) Using that email access to "inadvertently" upload the information of their email contacts.[1]

3) Storing said passwords and others in plaintext. [2]

It's pretty impressive that a company could do something so brazenly malevolent and be confident that they will escape with no more than a fine.

[0] https://www.thedailybeast.com/beyond-sketchy-facebook-demand...

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/apr/18/facebook-...

[2] https://krebsonsecurity.com/2019/03/facebook-stored-hundreds...

Re: Facebook Expects to Be Fined Up to $5B by FTC Over Privacy Issues

#24

Post by throwawaytoday5 »

product50 wrote: post #13

Before this thread becomes a Facebook bashing session, please keep in mind that Equifax leaked all your SSN data along with names and addresses and got away with no fines.

Can someone explain how Facebook gets a fine but Equifax doesn't? I don't understand how? Or has Equifax not been fined yet?

Re: Facebook Expects to Be Fined Up to $5B by FTC Over Privacy Issues

#25

Post by lucasmullens »

busymom0 wrote: post #12

This is pocket change for them. Reminds me of how they fine oil companies $50,000 and another $450,000 for violations. When they are making billions off of violating user privacy and will continue to keep using that user data for future business, this fine is nothing to them. It's like I manipulatively steal $10 from a million people and only lose a few bucks. They still profited.

$5,000,000,000 reminds you of $50,000? A fine of 1% of Facebook's value seems a bit more than pocket change.

Re: Facebook Expects to Be Fined Up to $5B by FTC Over Privacy Issues

#26

Post by matt4077 »

danpalmer wrote: post #11
oh_sigh wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1 month of revenue is how many months of profit?

They are fairly high margin relative to most industries, so probably less than 2 months of profit would be my guess.

If only there was a way to find out how much profit a public company makes, instead of going three-deep in a threat with “would be my guess” numbers...

FWIW, FB quarterly profits Q1, Q2, and Q3 2018 were 5.1, 5.1, and 6.9 billion, respectively: https://www.statista.com/statistics/223289/facebooks-quarter...

Re: Facebook Expects to Be Fined Up to $5B by FTC Over Privacy Issues

#27

Post by lordnacho »

jokoon wrote: post #22
product50 wrote: post #13

Before this thread becomes a Facebook bashing session, please keep in mind that Equifax leaked all your SSN data along with names and addresses and got away with no fines.

[flagged]

Similar punishment for similar transgressions is how the law is supposed to work.

Re: Facebook Expects to Be Fined Up to $5B by FTC Over Privacy Issues

#28

Post by SatvikBeri »

oh_sigh wrote: post #7
spaceheretostay wrote: post #3

Isn't that just like 1 month's worth of revenue? That amounts to absolutely nothing in today's world, not even an incentive to reduce the bad behavior. Jail time for lawbreaking executives needs to happen . The financial penalties do not dissuade bad behavior or act as a deterrent, so the same crimes will continue to be committed. Are there any peer-reviewed studies looking at deterrence of financial/tech/privacy cri…

1 month of revenue is how many months of profit?

According to YCharts, Facebook's 2018 revenue was $55.8 BN and their profit was $22.1 BN, so 1 month of revenue is 2.5 months of profit.

Re: Facebook Expects to Be Fined Up to $5B by FTC Over Privacy Issues

#29

Post by gtirloni »

spaceheretostay wrote: post #14
zavi wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You cannot fine companies for being technically incompetent.

Surely you can - that could amount to criminal negligence which is definitely a crime.

Yes, you can and should. But how do you define negligence in IT? We don't have the same codified norms as civil engineering so it'd be very subjective.

Re: Facebook Expects to Be Fined Up to $5B by FTC Over Privacy Issues

#30

Post by cm2012 »

throwawaytoday5 wrote: post #24
product50 wrote: post #13

Before this thread becomes a Facebook bashing session, please keep in mind that Equifax leaked all your SSN data along with names and addresses and got away with no fines.

Can someone explain how Facebook gets a fine but Equifax doesn't? I don't understand how? Or has Equifax not been fined yet?

Facebook is a popular target right now and the subject is politically charged. That's it.
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