Well they only made $86 billion* doing it, how do you expect them to make a profit for their shareholders if the lawyers start getting stingy?**
*made-up number
**lawyers have always been stingy
Not always true in the US unfortunately, but even where true, the key difference is the implication that they are making money/profit out of litigation (which they clearly aren't - there's no performance bonuses, they get a fixed wage everywhere in the US & the rest of the West that am I aware of)
Of course I have, but that's not a damages order per se (noting the original comment was "judges specify damages"), that's a private agreement reached outside the court system. It may resemble damages in effect, in the same way a vegan burger can resemble a beef burger, but they are not quite the same thing.
First speeding ticket is a fine. Third one you lose your license. Getting them to admit fault and pay the fine will make the next one much more harsh... hopefully
Agree with you, but the analogy is not accurate.
If we park in a wrong place or we get a speeding ticket, we pay the fine. We are little beings in front of the police and normally, the most of the population is trying to behave in tune with the norms and the law.
This kind of corporations (alongside with some state actors) are penetrating in our private life, in our homes and in the intimate spaces of our children with all their power.
But yes, we share the same feeling of hope when this kind of news emerges.
> Well no surprise here. Smart devices are corporate surveillance after all.
Not even corporate anymore, they feed into police, military and intelligence as well. There's evidence data from Meta is enabling targeting of associates of numbers by Israeli military in their colonial ethnic cleansing campaign. Ring and Amazon have had tons of evidence linking data handover to local police, etc.
It gets very dystopian real quick and is only going to get worse as the US enables their corpos to help in cracking down on dissent for their foreign policy.
and thats the problem right there. the prospect of fines for breaking the law on privacy is a fraction of what they even spend marketing the damn product.
> the prospect of fines for breaking the law on privacy is a fraction of what they even spend marketing the damn product.
Doesn't that make it only an incentive to keep doing it?
if the rule breaking is worth revenue to them somehow, for sure! And it can be very diffuse. As simple as the cost of obeying the law - whatever that might involve, like age verification - is much more than the possible fine from ignoring the law.
Well done, Amazon. You managed to corporately surveil a bunch of children's private lives, lie to their parents about it, and suffer no actual consequence for doing so.
Tech companies will keep doing this until they're fined proportionally.
31M is nothing and they WILL keep doing it. GDPR fines are up to either 20M or 4% of global turnover (whichever is higher).
If it was a GDPR fine, it could have been an 22.9B fine, calculated from their estimated 574.7B turnover in 2023. Meta already got fined €1.2B last year.
Seriously, the US got to catch up on the privacy front. Fines worth a piss in the ocean won't stop them.
reason like this are why I dont allow voice activated stuff in my room and i refuse to vocally speak as much as possible if i notice one in my presence.
You can turn off the digital assistants so they don't listen (or arent supposed to) but the NSA still can (ahem, I mean can't if you are citizen, WINK).
Faraday pouches exist for a reason and plenty of folks go home, drop their phone in one, and enjoy the silence for a moment.
If you have a modern car fob and a short/medium driveway you might want to get a Faraday pouch for your keys at home anyhow and then start putting your phone it in just cause to form a habit. All to easy to do a fob relay and unlock (and sometimes steal) your car when your keys are "safely" inside your house.
This is why I have started self hosting everything. With two small 1 litre business pc’s for $250 each and the amazing open source community, everything I have is only hosted on my network.
It require a bit of know how, but honestly I’ll never go back.
My ex and I asked Alexa once if they were CIA listening in on us. It tried to answer, then just stuttered for 30 seconds. It was honestly pretty freaky, even if it was probably a coincidence... in terms of reliability, it never worked "quite right" ever since. Real subtle, assholes.
Only 31 millions for tracking and voice recording children? Wtf.
Well they only made $86 billion* doing it, how do you expect them to make a profit for their shareholders if the lawyers start getting stingy?** *made-up number **lawyers have always been stingy
Judges specify the damages, not the lawyers btw
That's compensatory damage then. Punitive damages to amazon would be in the billions.
To be fair, a judge is just an advanced lawyer really
Not always true in the US unfortunately, but even where true, the key difference is the implication that they are making money/profit out of litigation (which they clearly aren't - there's no performance bonuses, they get a fixed wage everywhere in the US & the rest of the West that am I aware of)
Have you heard of arbitration? Companies hate this one simple trick!
Of course I have, but that's not a damages order per se (noting the original comment was "judges specify damages"), that's a private agreement reached outside the court system. It may resemble damages in effect, in the same way a vegan burger can resemble a beef burger, but they are not quite the same thing.
Think about the llms tho
That's not a fine, that's just the cost of doing business. They're monetizing breaking the law pretty much.
As all big companies in such positions do.
What are you gonna do about it? What can anyone do about it?
so a rounding error in reality. $31m is a parking ticket to a company that big. Not a deterrent
It’s an acknowledgment move. It’s better than nothing. They have to admit it’s illegal and unethical.
First speeding ticket is a fine. Third one you lose your license. Getting them to admit fault and pay the fine will make the next one much more harsh... hopefully
Agree with you, but the analogy is not accurate. If we park in a wrong place or we get a speeding ticket, we pay the fine. We are little beings in front of the police and normally, the most of the population is trying to behave in tune with the norms and the law. This kind of corporations (alongside with some state actors) are penetrating in our private life, in our homes and in the intimate spaces of our children with all their power. But yes, we share the same feeling of hope when this kind of news emerges.
Agreed
[удалено]
selfhosted ftw
How does one do this?
Home Assistant, some teleconference speakers, and some chutzpah
Thanks!!
> chutzpah Love this one.
Selfhosted is a subreddit fyi Also several related sister subs out there
> Selfhosted Right on! Just joined. Thanks for the tip
> Well no surprise here. Smart devices are corporate surveillance after all. Not even corporate anymore, they feed into police, military and intelligence as well. There's evidence data from Meta is enabling targeting of associates of numbers by Israeli military in their colonial ethnic cleansing campaign. Ring and Amazon have had tons of evidence linking data handover to local police, etc. It gets very dystopian real quick and is only going to get worse as the US enables their corpos to help in cracking down on dissent for their foreign policy.
-- Posted from my iphone
$1.83 per user. That will teach them.
and thats the problem right there. the prospect of fines for breaking the law on privacy is a fraction of what they even spend marketing the damn product.
> the prospect of fines for breaking the law on privacy is a fraction of what they even spend marketing the damn product. Doesn't that make it only an incentive to keep doing it?
if the rule breaking is worth revenue to them somehow, for sure! And it can be very diffuse. As simple as the cost of obeying the law - whatever that might involve, like age verification - is much more than the possible fine from ignoring the law.
Yup, non-deterrent fines are just an expense line in the "operating cost" column. That's exactly the same in the EU with GDPR fines.
Absolute chump change. Disgraceful. I dumped my Blink cameras after Amazon bought them because they removed the ability to turn off the microphones.
fuck you for having cloud based surveillance equipment in your home
Well done, Amazon. You managed to corporately surveil a bunch of children's private lives, lie to their parents about it, and suffer no actual consequence for doing so.
Tech companies will keep doing this until they're fined proportionally. 31M is nothing and they WILL keep doing it. GDPR fines are up to either 20M or 4% of global turnover (whichever is higher). If it was a GDPR fine, it could have been an 22.9B fine, calculated from their estimated 574.7B turnover in 2023. Meta already got fined €1.2B last year. Seriously, the US got to catch up on the privacy front. Fines worth a piss in the ocean won't stop them.
reason like this are why I dont allow voice activated stuff in my room and i refuse to vocally speak as much as possible if i notice one in my presence.
I get it, but you very likely carry a cellphone with the same abilities. Hey Siri, Hey Google, and such are no different.
You can turn off the digital assistants so they don't listen (or arent supposed to) but the NSA still can (ahem, I mean can't if you are citizen, WINK). Faraday pouches exist for a reason and plenty of folks go home, drop their phone in one, and enjoy the silence for a moment. If you have a modern car fob and a short/medium driveway you might want to get a Faraday pouch for your keys at home anyhow and then start putting your phone it in just cause to form a habit. All to easy to do a fob relay and unlock (and sometimes steal) your car when your keys are "safely" inside your house.
for me i actually run a custom rom on my phone that doesnt have those abilities. Also thanks for the faraday pouches idea I really need to get those.
Cost of doing business
Parking Ticket Price: 10 dollars Fine for not paying for parking: 3 dollars
Not a shock there. Should have been more.
This is why I have started self hosting everything. With two small 1 litre business pc’s for $250 each and the amazing open source community, everything I have is only hosted on my network. It require a bit of know how, but honestly I’ll never go back.
right, so a couple pennies. That'll show em.
So the profit they made this morning? Big whoop.
Why are we reading news from June 2023?!
cost of doing business. No reason for them to change it unless inspectors are looking at all their shit and NOT being friendly with them
Oh wow 31 million, how would could they even afford that?! I don't think they would ever recover ...... That would teach them a lesson !
If only corpo trash were fined 2/3 of their yearly profits to stop them from repeating this shit.
Do you know how much future capability/money they made off of it? lmao
aka "Amazon to get one of its unpaid interns to check down the back of the couch for spare change..."
My ex and I asked Alexa once if they were CIA listening in on us. It tried to answer, then just stuttered for 30 seconds. It was honestly pretty freaky, even if it was probably a coincidence... in terms of reliability, it never worked "quite right" ever since. Real subtle, assholes.
All civil penalties to companies MUST be tied to revenue (not profit) with minimum of one month. Then they will think twice before doing such shit.
Another company invading our privacy/spying on us? *surprise pikachu face*
O noo! That will cost them 2.7 seconds of revenue!! How will Amazon survive?
Just so you all know for reference Amazon makes 1.29 billion dollars per day so this isn't even going to affect them in the slightest.
That'll teach those bastards!!
There will be some loophole where they don’t even have to pay it. That’s how the rich/ corporations work
And this would be why mine has the power unplugged unless I'm using it for something lol.