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We've all read the story: Famous footballer commits a crime against his club's honour and ends up being fined a few thousand pounds. Well it seems that the FCC over in the US of A has gone even further into the land of the ridiculous. KitGuru pulls out the trusty abacus and makes some rough calculations.
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When Google introduced street view we all thought this was a great step forward for both Google and the internet. Not only was it fun but also it was actually useful in day-to-day business. In the early days, it was also updated with enough frequency that college kids in the states could see who had gone on holiday and who had a big swimming pool going spare for a couple of weeks. Nice.
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Soon after the launch, came the news that Google had actually been slurping up information about wireless data while its cute vans had been on their rounds. The outcry that followed echoed around the internet for months, even getting Parliament time in several countries. With more and more data protection groups stepping up and shouting that the entire world had been violated, the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) opened its own investigation.
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It all seems a little nuts. You only have to switch your smartphone to ‘discover' and you can hoover up all the info you need – free of charge. But nothing gets the conservatives more upset than ‘ease of access' to information.
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As the FCC investigation draws to a close, the bureau have decided to issue a fine to Google for its unwillingness to disclose relevant data to the investigation. In a statement the FCC said “We find that Google apparently willfully and repeatedly violated Commission orders to produce certain information and documents that the Commission required for its investigation”.
So how much has $38 billion turnover Google been fined?
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Er, $25,000.
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We tried and, apologies, we struggle to articulate what percentage $25,000 is when a company's revenue is enough to pay every man, woman, child and baby in the UK a Christmas bonus of almost £650. The FCC fine is so small that we simply don't have a word for it.
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While publishers like Time run interesting articles on things like Google drawing attention to the wrong-doing that exists in the world, the FCC is handing out ridiculous fines.
KitGuru says: The FCC should consider downsizing, reducing the ridiculous and using some of the money saved to fight illness, cure ignorance and protect the weak. Better use of resource, we'd suggest. We're prepared to bet that the FCC spent more than $25,000 on its investigation. WAY more.
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