T-Mobile, AT&T, Sprint, Verizon slapped with $200M fine — here’s what they illegally did with your data; Mashable, April 30, 2024

Matt Binder, Mashable ; T-Mobile, AT&T, Sprint, Verizon slapped with $200M fine — here’s what they illegally did with your data

"AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile allegedly provided location data to third parties without their users' consent, which is illegal.

“Our communications providers have access to some of the most sensitive information about us," said FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel in a statement. "These carriers failed to protect the information entrusted to them. Here, we are talking about some of the most sensitive data in their possession: customers’ real-time location information, revealing where they go and who they are.” 

FCC fines the biggest U.S. mobile carriers

According to the FCC, T-Mobile has been fined the largest amount: $80 million. Sprint, which has merged with T-Mobile since the FCC's investigation began, also received a $12 million fine.

AT&T will have to pay more than $57 million and Verizon will dole out close to $47 million."

Google hit with $270M fine in France as authority finds news publishers’ data was used for Gemini; TechCrunch, March 20, 2024

 Natasha Lomas, Romain Dillet , TechCrunch; Google hit with $270M fine in France as authority finds news publishers’ data was used for Gemini

"In a never-ending saga between Google and France’s competition authority over copyright protections for news snippets, the Autorité de la Concurrence announced a €250 million fine against the tech giant Wednesday (around $270 million at today’s exchange rate).

According to the competition watchdog, Google disregarded some of its previous commitments with news publishers. But the decision is especially notable because it drops something else that’s bang up-to-date — by latching onto Google’s use of news publishers’ content to train its generative AI model Bard/Gemini.

The competition authority has found fault with Google for failing to notify news publishers of this GenAI use of their copyrighted content. This is in light of earlier commitments Google made which are aimed at ensuring it undertakes fair payment talks with publishers over reuse of their content."

Those 10,000 5-star reviews are fake. Now they’ll also be illegal.; The Washington Post, June 30, 2023

Geoffrey A. Fowler, The Washington Post ; Those 10,000 5-star reviews are fake. Now they’ll also be illegal.

"The Federal Trade Commission on Friday proposed new rules to take aim at businesses that buy, sell and manipulate online reviews. If the rules are approved, they’ll carry a big stick: a fine of up to $50,000 for each fake review, for each time a consumer sees it."

Meta Fined $1.3 Billion for Violating E.U. Data Privacy Rules; The New York Times, May 22, 2023

Adam Satariano, The New York Times ; Meta Fined $1.3 Billion for Violating E.U. Data Privacy Rules

"Meta on Monday was fined a record 1.2 billion euros ($1.3 billion) and ordered to stop transferring data collected from Facebook users in Europe to the United States, in a major ruling against the social media company for violating European Union data protection rules...

The ruling, which is a record fine under the General Data Protection Regulation, or G.D.P.R., could affect data related to photos, friend connections and direct messages stored by Meta. It has the potential to bruise Facebook’s business in Europe, particularly if it hurts the company’s ability to target ads. Last month, Susan Li, Meta’s chief financial officer, told investors that about 10 percent of its worldwide ad revenue came from ads delivered to Facebook users in E.U. countries. In 2022, Meta had revenue of nearly $117 billion."

Accounting giant Ernst & Young admits its employees cheated on ethics exams; NPR, June 28, 2022

JACQUELINE GANUN , NPR; Accounting giant Ernst & Young admits its employees cheated on ethics exams

Ernst & Young, one of the top accounting firms in the world, is being fined $100 million by federal regulators after admitting its employees cheated on their ethics exams. 

For years, the firm's auditors had cheated to pass key exams that are needed for certified public accountant licenses, the Securities and Exchange Commission found. Ernst & Young also had internal reports about the cheating but didn't disclose the wrongdoing to regulators during the investigation.

"It's simply outrageous that the very professionals responsible for catching cheating by clients cheated on ethics exams of all things," Gurbir S. Grewal, director of the SEC's Enforcement Division, said in a release. 

The fine is the largest penalty ever imposed by the SEC on an audit firm. 

The CPA, or certified public accountant, licenses are needed by auditors to evaluate the financial statements of companies and ensure they are complying with laws.

However, the SEC says that a "significant number" of Ernst & Young audit professionals specifically cheated on the ethics component of the CPA exams that were required for their accounting jobs."

GDPR: US news sites blocked to EU users over data protection rules; BBC, May 25, 2018

BBC; GDPR: US news sites blocked to EU users over data protection rules

"The Chicago Tribune and LA Times were among those posting messages saying they were currently unavailable in most European countries.

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) gives EU citizens more rights over how their information is used.

The measure is an effort by EU lawmakers to limit tech firms' powers."

Companies brace for European privacy rules; Axios, August 1, 2017

Sara Fischer, Kim Hart, Axios; Companies brace for European privacy rules

"U.S. companies are largely unprepared for what's about to hit them when sweeping new EU data laws take effect next year. The regulation — the General Data Protection Regulation (or GDPR) — is intended to give users more control of how their personal data is used and streamline data processes across the EU. Companies that fail to comply with the complex law will face steep fines of up to 4% of their global annual revenue.

Why it matters: Europe has by far taken the most aggressive regulatory stance on protecting consumer privacy and will in many ways be a litmus test for regulating the currency of the data economy. It impacts a huge number of businesses from advertisers to e-commerce platforms whose data flows through EU countries. That means everyone from Google to your neighbor who sells shoes on eBay could be affected."

'No grey areas': experts urge Facebook to change moderation policies; Guardian, May 22, 2017

Jamie Grierson, Guardian; 

'No grey areas': experts urge Facebook to change moderation policies

"Facebook’s ethical standards should not be decided “behind closed doors”, the former chair of an influential parliamentary committee has said after the Guardian revealed the social media giant’s secret rules for moderating extreme content.

Yvette Cooper, chair of the home affairs select committee before parliament was dissolved for the upcoming election, said the files – used by Facebook to moderate violence, hate speech, terrorism, pornography, racism and self-harm – underlined a need for more transparency.

A report from the cross-party committee last month concluded social media companies, including Facebook, should face fines of tens of millions of pounds for failing to remove extremist and hate-crime material."

One Year Until EU Privacy Regime Change: Prep Time is Now; Bloomberg BNA, May 25, 2017

Jimmy H. Koo and Daniel R. Stoller, Bloomberg BNA; One Year Until EU Privacy Regime Change: Prep Time Is Now

"Companies should start preparing for the new EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which takes effect May 25, 2018, privacy attorneys said. But regardless of how much they prepare, full compliance with the GDPR is an elusive goal, attorneys said...

The GDPR, which takes effect May 25, 2018, provides one EU-wide regulation to replace a more than 20-year-old directive that required each country to pass its own privacy laws. The GDPR will bring stricter standards for user consent to the use of their personal data, mandatory data breach notification, and fines as high as $20 million euros ($22.4 million) or 4 percent of a company’s annual worldwide income, among other things...

The GDPR “at its core is about information governance,” Clarissa Horowitz, vice president of communications at Mountain View, Calif.-based software company MobileIron Inc., told Bloomberg BNA."

Long Overdue: Why public libraries are finally eliminating the late-return fine.; Slate, 2/6/17

Ruth Graham, Slate;

Long Overdue: Why public libraries are finally eliminating the late-return fine.

"Free public libraries are so interwoven into American life that it can be hard to appreciate their radical premise: Anyone in town can take home any book, for free. Overdue fines have always operated as a hedge on that communal trust, the nagging little stick that comes with the big, beautiful carrot. Fines imply that a library’s mission is not only to encourage reading but to perform a kind of moral instruction. But does it make sense for libraries to perform both of those jobs? “We’ve had 150 years to try to teach customers timeliness or responsibility, and I don’t know that that’s our greatest success story,” said Losinski, a few days after his library system abandoned late fees. Reid put it more simply when she explained the message she wanted residents of High Plains to take away: “We trust you.”"

Yellowstone bison calf euthanized after park visitors picked up animal on road; Guardian, 5/16/16

Oliver Milman, Guardian; Yellowstone bison calf euthanized after park visitors picked up animal on road:

"“These actions endanger people and have now resulted in the death of a newborn bison calf,” said the NPS. “Approaching wild animals can drastically affect their wellbeing and, in this case, their survival.”

The four million people a year who visit Yellowstone are required to stay at least 25 yards (23m) away from all wildlife and at least 100 yards (91m) from bears and wolves.

“Disregarding these regulations can result in fines, injury, and even death,” said the NPS.

“The safety of these animals, as well as human safety, depends on everyone using good judgment and following these simple rules.”"