FCC fines Google $25,000. Mid-level Google execs routinely leave that amount in leave-a-penny trays
Share Now on:
FCC fines Google $25,000. Mid-level Google execs routinely leave that amount in leave-a-penny trays
I had to check this story a couple of times just to make sure I wasn’t misreading a story about Google getting hit with a 25 million dollar fine. Nope. 25 thousand dollars. That’s the amount the Federal Communications Commission is planning to hit Google with over the company’s slow response to complaints over data picked up by Street View cars. It’s sort of become a fuzzy distant memory now but this was from when Google was found to have collected a bunch of personal information about people on the drives of those cars while out taking pictures of neighborhoods in order to make maps. The information was from home networks that were unencrypted so anyone could have picked it up; it’s the equivalent of playing loud music in your house and then complaining about someone recording it outside. Google self-reported the alleged bug that caused their vehicles to record the data.
The FCC’s action is based on what it said was Google’s reluctance to cooperate with the investigation. In a notice released Saturday, the agency said that for several months, “Google deliberately impeded and delayed” the agency’s investigation into the data collection. A Google engineer who developed the Street View code used to collect the data declined to provide testimony to the agency and invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
But really, come on. 25 grand?
Stories You Might Like
There’s a lot happening in the world. Through it all, Marketplace is here for you.
You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible.
Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.
