26 July 2019

FB's $5Billion Privacy-Breach Fine from U.S. Federal Trade Commission > Too Big, Too Little or Not Enough

The so-called 'settlement' agreed to might be an historic penalty of sorts or unprecedented but it does not really settle anything when the value of your privacy is in-the-balance.
Most of the industry and public feedback is thumb pressure tipping the scales for more scrutiny and more penalties for breaches of privacy we all hold close and dear both in democracies and human rights. Stealing your data matters.
The Editorial Board of the New York Times stated their opinion two days ago:A $5 Billion Fine for Facebook Won’t Fix Privacy
The Federal Trade Commission’s record-breaking levy has barely dented the company’s stock price
The Federal Trade Commission issued a $5 billion fine against Facebook on Wednesday. It’s an eye-popping number for sure, one that blows previous fines out of the water.
It’s a number that makes for impressive headlines, but it is largely meaningless. Facebook posted $15 billion in revenue last quarter, at which point it announced that it had set aside $3 billion to pay potential fines. Facebook’s stock price barely budged when the size of the expected fine was first reported this month. After the F.T.C.’s official announcement on Wednesday, the stock price closed slightly higher than at opening. . .
The weightlessness of the fine isn’t the only problem with the deal. The settlement order grants Facebook and its officers immunity in a wide range of possible misdeeds committed before June 12. The agency has also declined to hold Mark Zuckerberg — or anyone else — personally liable for Facebook’s repeated privacy violations. Come again? . .
READ MORE > New York Times PRIVACY PROJECT/Opinion
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Extracts from https://gbhackers.com
Facebook Agreed to Pay Historic Penalty of $5 Billion & Provides New Tools For FTC To Monitor Facebook
By BALAJI N
$5 Billion is the highest penalty ever imposed on any other companies for violating consumers’ privacy or any type of violation by U.S Government, and it is 20 times biggest than the highest penalty for the violation of user privacy.
The $5 billion fine is not a big deal for Facebook which made a profit of $22 billion last year on $56 billion in total revenue through the business model advertisement for its customer’s product and service among more than billion Facebook users. . .
Statement From Mark Zuckerberg
Facebook released an official statement about the penalty and new major changes in structure and privacy controls.
“We’ve formally reached a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission about privacy. We’ve agreed to pay a historic fine, but even more important, we’re going to make some major structural changes to how we build products and run this company.”
“We have a responsibility to protect people’s privacy. We already work hard to live up to this responsibility, but now we’re going to set a completely new standard for our industry.”
Overall, these changes go beyond anything required under US law today. The reason I support them is that I believe they will reduce the number of mistakes we make and help us deliver stronger privacy protections for everyone. Mark said in his Facebook statement.
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On July 24, 2019 Nicole Lindsey had this question in her headline writing for https://www.cpomagazine.com/

Record-Setting $5 Billion Facebook Fine Too Little Too Late?
For the past eight years, Facebook has managed to evade the full wrath and fury of U.S. regulators . . . The Facebook fine is a penalty for privacy breaches related to the Cambridge Analytica scandal, which first came to light in early 2018.
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The big question now is whether regulators acted strongly and swiftly enough in order to deter Facebook from future privacy abuses.
DEBATE OVER THE SIZE OF THE FINE
Despite the massive, unprecedented size of the Facebook fine, the overall response from privacy advocates, politicians and security experts is that regulators did not act nearly strongly enough. When considered in the overall context of Facebook revenues and profitability, the FTC essentially slapped Facebook on the wrist with a fine. . .
a $5 billion Facebook fine won’t even make a dent in the company’s overall profitability or force the company to make any real changes in how it approaches user privacy and data
. . .As long as Facebook is allowed to crank out billions of dollars of profit per quarter, it’s reasonable to assume that Facebook will not make any real changes to its underlying business model. Yes, the $5 billion Facebook fine might force the company to re-think upcoming business initiatives (such as the launch of its new Libra cryptocurrency), but does anyone really think that Facebook will make changes to its digital advertising model that relies on sharing data with as many entities as possible?
. . . Judging by the slim 3-2 vote at the FTC that led to the fine that broke along party lines (with Republicans voting for the fine and Democrats voting against the fine), there’s still not any real political consensus about how to regulate Facebook . . . From a long-term perspective, it’s clear that something needs to change in how the U.S. government regulates technology companies, especially when it comes to user privacy and data. For nearly 8 years, Facebook was allowed to grow unchecked and largely unregulated. Now is the time for sweeping new privacy legislation to rein in the big Silicon Valley tech giants.
Critics have long said the United States lags Europe and other parts of the world in digital privacy regulation and that Congress should enact an expansive new data protection law
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