Google faces fine for snooping!

[karl]

Google 'faces $22.5m fine for snooping on iPhone and iPad users' (But it will take them just 17 hours to make)
Google used a special computer code - or 'cookies' - to trick Apple's Safari browser so it could monitor users
Google said it was 'inadvertent' and has removed it
Violated FTC agreement to be open about privacy practices

Google will reportedly be fined £14.5million for spying on millions of Apple customers.
The company is at the centre of yet another privacy row, having been accused of bypassing web security settings.
It allegedly tricked Apple’s Safari browser – found on iPhones, iPads and Mac computers – into dropping its automatic privacy safeguards, allowing it to snoop on users across the globe, including those in Britain.


See link for full story


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2171417/Google-faces-22-5-fine-snooping-iPhone-iPad-users-But-just-17-hours-make.html#ixzz20IlU5TrW

[Iron Man]

Good thing I use Android. Silly hipsters, privacy is for nerds.

[TheMatrix]

I'm not surprised. And they will do it again, I'm sure, but more subtly. But I do find it misleading how they represent cookies. They are not only used by advertisers, actually a large number of them are session cookies, which keep you logged in to sites like VT.
I could go into a long ramble about why that is and how it works, but I'm pretty sure that people will just tl;dr. Read RFC 2616 (http://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc2616.txt) if you are interested.

Good thing I use Android. Silly hipsters, privacy is for nerds.

Google is tracking you too, you just don't know it. While Android may be open source, the vendor implementations certainly aren't, and I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if word comes out that Android is actually snooping as well.

[Aves]

Good thing I use Android. Silly hipsters, privacy is for nerds.

You do know Google made Android possible, right?

[Cognizant]

Good thing I use Android. Silly hipsters, privacy is for nerds.

Google made the OS, no? I would imagine they're doing the same thing :P

[Sugaree]

Good thing I use Android. Silly hipsters, privacy is for nerds.

If this were reddit, you'd probably get down voted into oblivion.

[Roses_Are_Yellow]

Well I feel incredibly violated. They better have not tapped into my phone, stupid snoopers..

[Iron Man]

Google made the OS, no?

Poppycock.

[Foamy]

Another reason for those "against Apple" people to hate. But oh well, nobody is safe online.

[Smeagol]

Well, I dunno. I am probably being stalked by Google right now. But, I'm not doing anything on the net that I'm ashamed of. I'm not watching porn or hacking computers or sending viruses. I can see how this can be a security problem to people who have online jobs and do their stock trading online. However, I don't think that Google is going to help people hack into other people's eTrade. People need to yes, punish Google, but it isn't earthshattering.

[Mirage]

What information were they tracking, exactly? This seems really wrong regardless, but I'm curious.

[TheMatrix]

What information were they tracking, exactly? This seems really wrong regardless, but I'm curious.
Well, I dunno. I am probably being stalked by Google right now. But, I'm not doing anything on the net that I'm ashamed of.
It's not so much that you're doing anything shame-worthy, but it's more that Google knows everything you do. Like somebody who follows you everywhere. In real life, nobody would be okay with somebody following them and writing down notes on everything they do. Online, people seem to find that alright, so Google, Facebook, and all the rest are very happy to do that for you. It goes into a "file" that contains everything they could gather off the internet about you. That means that unless you delete every Google cookie before visiting VT, Google can track that you've been here. That data gets sold to third parties such as advertisers and probably the NSA. Think about it, the government can see exactly what you do online, 24/7. Creepy, no?

Internet privacy will remain empty and hollow until enough people are educated and willing to believe the extent of what their favourite online corporations are doing to you.