Comment by andry_ad
3 years ago
Did they make only $8.5mil? I doubt. Why not fine them for their profit? At this point, fines like this are treated as expenses.
3 years ago
Did they make only $8.5mil? I doubt. Why not fine them for their profit? At this point, fines like this are treated as expenses.
It’s such a small amount because it’s a small infringement (incorrect default for a privacy-related setting that was corrected, I guess fairly rapidly because of the height of the fine)
The thing is, when big things happen too its still not a very large fine.
January 4 (https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/04/technology/meta-facebook-...):
“Meta suffered a major defeat on Wednesday that could severely undercut its Facebook and Instagram advertising business after European Union regulators found it had illegally forced users to effectively accept personalized ads.
The decision, including a fine of 390 million euros ($414 million), has the potential to require Meta to make costly changes to its advertising-based business in the European Union, one of its largest markets.”
Even ignoring that it is including a fine, I would think $414 million is large enough for some fairly high-up managers at Meta getting flak for it.
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Exactly. "Illegal with a fine" is "Legal for a price." If the fine is less than the profit, then it's just another cost of doing business.
Edit: What's controversial about this statement? It's patently obvious, especially when you factor in the odds that your behavior will go unnoticed or unprosecuted. Do you people think I'm advocating this?!
The fine should be equivalent to profit plus a hefty penalty on top of that. Other wise there's no dis-incentive against repeat behaviour.
> The fine should be equivalent to profit plus a hefty penalty on top of that.
So this was a toggle in an obscure preferences setting toggled incorrectly and therefore a minor infringement of EU law - but you want the court to fine Apple their entire profit? plus some random extra amount?
Wow. Aside from this being completely stupid to anyone who doesn’t share your irrational level of Apple hatred, how would you deal with a really serious offense?
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Remember kids. If the punishment is a fine not jail time it's only a law for the poor.
Say what you will about capital punishment in singapore, but a caning hurts the same for a rich person and a poor person.