Google agreed to pay 17 millions dollars in fines on charges that it secretly monitored some consumers' online activities. The fine was set by the New York Attorney General, Eric Schneiderman on Monday.
Attorneys general from 28 states accused Google of violating consumer protection and privacy laws by circumventing settings privacy policy in Apple's Safari browser in order to display targeted ads.
“Consumers should be able to know if someone is tracking their browsing on InternetSchneiderman said. By tracking millions of people without their knowledge, Google violated not only their privacy, but also their trust.”
The case arose after the discovery of Google's method of displaying targeted ads using cookies. Google announced on by clicking here that Safari's privacy settings can prevent Google from tracking these cookies. But a post from Wall Street Journal last year revealed that Google was able to bypass these settings by taking advantage of a loophole in the Safari browser.
