Web giant may face a $22.5 million fine for bypassing user privacy settings in Apple's Safari Web browser, sources tell The Wall Street Journal.
Google is close to paying a record settlement to resolve charges related to bypassing Apple user privacy settings, The Wall Street Journal reported this evening.
The Web giant is expected to pay $22.5 million to settle charges it sidestepped user privacy settings in Apple's Safari Web browser -- the largest penalty the U.S. Federal Trade Commission has ever levied against a single company, unidentified officials told the newspaper.
In a practice it has since ceased, Google used special code to get around Safari's privacy controls in order to track users on computers and mobile devices. Google has previously told CNET that the company used known functionality in Safari to provide features that Google users had enabled. Further, the advertising cookies generated did not collect personal information, Google added.
The FTC was reportedly looking into whether Google's action violated a 2011 settlement agreement between the agency and the company over privacy concerns related to the launch of Google Buzz. That settlement required Google to "obtain express affirmative consent" from users -- opt-in, in other words -- any time it proposes any "additional sharing" of certain types of user information.
Sanctions for violating the agreement could reach $16,000 a day.
CNET has contacted Google and the FTC for comment and will update this report when we learn more.
A Google representative previously defended the company's behavior as "[providing] features that signed-in Google users had enabled. However, the Safari browser contained functionality that then enabled other Google advertising cookies to be set on the browser."
