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Belgium bans Uber, threatens €10,000 fine for each attempted pickup
A Brussels court has declared Uber to be illegal in Belgium, saying the company will be fined €10,000 for every ride. The UberPOP ride-sharing service has been on shaky ground there since its February launch, with the government even seizing vehicles. As in France, taxi drivers are taking umbrage with the company since its drivers don't have to pay for pricey licenses. The French government actually forced Uber chauffeurs to wait 15 minutes before picking up passengers in response, which now seems tame in comparison to Belgium's actions. Uber has yet to comment, but previously said it's been open with the government and called the seizures "disproportionate and targeted." As with Tesla, however, it's learning how hard it is to deal with an entrenched industry.
Google will escape fines in EU antitrust case by promoting rival services
Google has finally reached a settlement in its long-running dispute with the European Commission over the way that it displays search results. From now on, it must give equal visibility to rivals like Bing and Yahoo when it shows ads for its own products and services, like hotel reservations or customer ratings. The EU has been probing Google for over three years now about its practices, and recently said that it would need to substantially improve its offer, and fast, or face a fine of up to $5 billion. Google's competitors accused it of burying their ads in its search results, and a recent offer to display them in a shaded box was sharply rejected. A way of showing such services so that they're "clearly visible" to consumers as equal to Google's will now be determined "objectively," according to the commission. Once that happens, it'll need to comply for at least five years.
Korea remembers to fine Google for unauthorized data-gathering in 2010
South Korea's communications regulator has fined Google $196,000 (or the more impressive-sounding 210 million won) for sucking up personal data during a Street View mapping project back in 2010. These "payload data" fragments apparently included details on unprotected WiFi networks -- the same stuff you heard about when both Germany and France fined the company. The regulator has ordered Google to delete all collected private data and to keep the public updated as this deletion progresses. Given the pace at which this case has moved so far, we'll give 'em four years.
France slaps Google with $204,000 fine for violating privacy laws
Google's run in with France's privacy regulator has come to a rather undignified end. After months of deliberation, the National Commission on Computing and Freedom (CNIL) today hit the search giant with a €150,000 ($204,000) fine for breaking the law with its unified privacy policy. According to the watchdog, Google didn't adequately inform users about its data collection processes, nor did it obtain consent or tell users how long cookies would be installed on their machine. It's significantly less than the €300,000 fine CNIL threatened in September, but the regulator will compound Google's misery by requesting it to display a notice on its Google.fr homepage for two days explaining the decision. It's the latest in a long line of privacy-related investigations against Google: six European countries have launched probes into its privacy policies, with Spain fining the company €900,000 ($1.2 million) just last month. Google has maintained its innocence throughout, but with penalties coming in thick and fast, it could be forced to amend its policies once more.
Spain fines Google $1.2 million for allegedly violating privacy laws
Google triggered investigations in six European countries when it revealed its unified privacy policy last year, but Spain is the first of the bunch to draw blood. The country just fined Google a total of €900,000 ($1.2 million) for allegedly violating data protection laws through its current approach. The firm isn't properly explaining why it's collecting personal information, the Spanish Data Protection Agency claims; it also isn't saying how long it will keep that content, and it isn't giving Spaniards enough control over who sees what. For its part, Mountain View tells Reuters that it will read the full report before deciding on its next steps. However, there's a real chance that Google will have to make at least some concessions when the Dutch (and possibly other European nations) also believe that it broke the law. [Image credit: Contando Estrelas, Flickr]
Sweden fines pirate $650,000 for illegally sharing a single film
Sure, it's no Somalia, but Sweden's been fighting plenty of its own battles against piracy -- of the digital variety. The former home of Pirate Bay, the infamous online repository for everything the RIAA and MPAA stand against, has just fined an unnamed 28-year-old man 4.3 million krona (about $650,000) for uploading a single film to a torrent site. Granted, an anti-piracy group called Rights Alliance described the man as the country's "worst ever" pirate, according to a BBC report, so just because this fine covers only one film, he's likely responsible for ripping off plenty more. In fact, the same court that assigned the fine also convicted the man of sharing 517 other flicks -- that charge brought a rather tame punishment, including a suspended jail sentence and 160 hours of community service.
Taiwan fines Samsung for astroturfing internet comments on its smartphones
Astroturfing (false grassroots) campaigns are usually reserved for promoting unpopular causes, but Samsung apparently disagrees. Taiwan's Fair Trade Commission has just fined the company NT$10 million ($340,333) for marketing its already successful smartphone line through fake internet comments. Samsung allegedly asked third-party contractor Peng Thai to write forum posts that praised devices, trashed competitors and downplayed bad news. The fine is almost trivial for a tech giant that makes billions of dollars in profit per quarter, but it may discourage others who would try similar dirty tricks -- besides, there are plenty of fans who would boost a product for free. [Image credit: Jussi Mononen, Flickr]
Citigroup fined $30 million for leaking iPhone research
Citigroup is learning the hard way that leaking unpublished research on iPhone production numbers to institutional investors ahead of other investors is wrong. The company has been fined US$30 million for sending that data to SAC Capital, T. Rowe Price, Citadel and GLC Partners ahead of official publication that would have been available to all investors. All of the investment firms except GLC Partners used information gathered by Citigroup analyst Kevin Chang to sell off AAPL shares before the news hit the rest of the market. The day Chang's research was made public on December 14, 2012, Apple's share price fell 5.2 percent so the three institutional investors who acted on his research early saved themselves millions. The fine was levied in a consent order from the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, William Galvin, who noted, "It seems that the concept that investors are to be presented with a level playing field when it comes to the product of research analysts is a lesson that must be learned over and over again. But it's important that it should be taught as often as necessary." Citigroup was also fined last year when another analyst disclosed confidential information before Facebook's IPO. Chang has been fired from the company.
French agency may slap Google with a €300,000 fine for privacy violations
Google has once again found itself in the hot seat over its data practices, and this time, a French agency is sounding the alarm. Earlier today, France's National Commission on Computing and Freedom (CNIL) threatened Google with a €300,000 fine due to the company's lack of compliance with a June decision aimed at protecting users' private data. Previously, Google was given three months to address CNIL's concerns about centralized data collection that lumps together information from Youtube, Gmail and searches and transparency about how such data was put to use. Now, the clock is up, and France isn't fooling around. While formal sanctioning is a lengthy process that won't be resolved for several months, the country's stance is considered aggressive, even if the fine is relatively modest. Google, however, doesn't seem phased. Company spokesperson Al Verney said, "Our privacy policy respects European law and allows us to create simpler, more effective services."
Apple docked $118,000 by Chinese court for violating authors' copyrights
Apple will have to pay three Chinese authors a total of $118,000 for stocking their books in its App Store without a proper say-so, according to China Daily. A court ruled that it was Apple's job to verify that third-party uploads met copyright requirements and that it had the means to do so since all the books in question were best-sellers. Apple's attorney declined to comment, but the court also suggested that similar online retailers should learn from the case "and improve their verification system" -- bringing perhaps another headache to would-be e-book stores in that nation.
Google fined $190,000 in Germany for illegal WiFi snooping with Street View cars
Google's been taking heat for a number of years since its Street View cars were found to be pulling WiFi data, and the Hamburg Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information has today hit the search giant with a 145,000 euro fine (almost $190,000) for its indiscretions. You may not remember this specific case in Germany -- it was nearly three years ago that investigations began, after all -- but it has now come to a close with this fine and the ruling that El Goog illegally recorded personal data including emails, passwords and pictures, which have all reportedly been deleted. We know the company has enough cash to pay in full, so the ruling will likely make more of a dent to its image than its bank account.
Microsoft hit with $730 million fine in Europe over browser choice 'non-compliance' (update: won't appeal)
There's so much deja vu here it's almost bewildering, but Microsoft has managed to get itself fined by the European Commission once again for failing to comply with its 2009 commitment to make it easy for customers to choose default browsers other than Internet Explorer. The penalty of 561 million euros ($730 million) isn't the biggest Redmond has faced in its turbulent history with European regulators, but it's still gotta hurt -- especially considering that Microsoft said its latest anti-trust blunder, in which the browser choice screen disappeared for some Windows 7 users, was merely a "technical error". Update: Microsoft has said it won't appeal the fine and issued the following statement: We take full responsibility for the technical error that caused this problem and have apologized for it. We provided the Commission with a complete and candid assessment of the situation, and we have taken steps to strengthen our software development and other processes to help avoid this mistake – or anything similar – in the future.
Path reaches a settlement with the FTC over COPPA violations
Path is paying handsomely for allowing minors under the age of 13 years old to sign up for its service. According to a statement released Friday, Path has settled with the FTC over an alleged violation of the Children's Online Privacy Protections Act (COPPA) involving 3,000 underage accounts. The social network has agreed to pay an US$8,000 fine. It will also establish a privacy program and submit to regular privacy assessments for the next 20 years. This COPPA violation was discovered as part of a bigger investigation following the revelation that Path uploaded iPhone contact information to the service's database without permission. [Via GigaOM]
Samsung fined $1,000 over fatal gas leak, according to Yonhap News
Korea's Yonhap News Agency is reporting that Samsung will be fined a nominal 1 million won (roughly $1,000) for not reporting its recent gas leak quickly enough. The incident led to the death of a maintenance contractor who was brought in to fix a pipe leaking hydrofluoric acid gas at one of Samsung's semiconductor plants. Police are said to be imposing the fine on both Samsung and its subcontractor for violating a law stipulating that such chemical leaks must be "promptly" reported to the authorities. It appears no official alert was given until the contractor died in hospital. Police say they're continuing to investigate how the fatal accident happened and that it's clear "someone died due to poor administration," so this isn't the end of the matter -- a fuller report is expected within two weeks.
Sony fined £250,000 in the UK over 2011 hacking fiasco (update)
A UK government agency has slapped Sony's wrist with a £250,000 ($400,000) penalty for not doing enough to protect the personal information of its customers. The fine specifically concerns the large-scale PSN hack in April 2011, which the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) says "could have been prevented." The agency's head, David Smith, said that the security measures Sony had in place "were simply not good enough." He added that Sony trades on its technical know-how, and had access to the necessary expertise to protect itself from criminal attacks: "There's no disguising that this is a business that should have known better." Though the size of the fine might seem piddling for an outfit like Sony, the ICO considers it to be a "substantial" punishment, reflecting the fact that this case is "one of the most serious" that has ever been reported to it. Check out David Smith's statement and best angry teacher face in the video after the break. Update: Sony Computer Entertainment Europe emailed us to say that it plans to appeal the decision. The company also agrees with the ICO's findings that although it was the victim of a focused criminal attack, it was unlikely that personal data accessed was used for "fraudulent purposes".
Samsung, LG, Philips and other TV makers fined $1.9 billion for EU price fixing
Some of the biggest TV manufacturers have been slapped with a $1.92 billion fine by the EU after regulators found the gang had been fixing prices of cathode-ray tubes for more than 20 years. Competition chief Joaquin Alumunia said that the group were acting as a cartel, featuring "all the worst kinds of anti-competitive behavior that are strictly forbidden [...] in Europe." Philips ate the biggest fine, having to pay $411 million, while LG, Panasonic, Samsung, Toshiba and Technicolor all coughed up between $386 million and $36 million. It follows an investigation which began in 2007 -- just when we all fell out of love with the old-fashioned technical standard. [Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons]
League of Legends tournament cheaters fined $30,000
With $2,000,000 US in prize money up for grabs in the League of Legends World Championship tournament, last week's accusations of cheating by several teams threw the e-sports scene into chaos. Several teams were accused of looking across the room at the enemy team's minimap, which was on display for audience members. Riot Games initially announced that nobody had looked at the minimap, but as viewers at home dug through the recorded streams, the evidence of cheating mounted. This week Riot carried out a full review of each match that was called into question, investigating both the incidents of players peeking at the opposing team's map and the impact on the match. One team was cleared of all misconduct, three were issued warnings for unsportsmanlike conduct, and Korean team Azubu Frost was fined 20% of its winnings. The $30,000 fine will be donated to Riot Games' charity programme in Korea.
European Commission set to fine Microsoft over 2009 browser compliance breach
The European Commission is planning to fine Microsoft for its failure to adhere to a 2009 ruling that required the software giant to offer customers a choice of default web browser. The EU Competition Commissioner, Joaquin Almuni, advised the press that a formal proceeding into the breach -- which Microsoft itself acknowledges -- has begun. Reuters reports that should Microsoft be found on the wrong side of the law, that the resulting fine could be as much as 10 percent of its global turnover. Whether the end sum would be as high as this remains to be seen, but given recent events, you can expected some hurried shuffling of paper in Redmond's accounts department.
Microsoft deliberately wasted energy at data center to avoid fine, says NY Times
Microsoft's desire to avoid a fine combined with a power company's strict electricity usage rules resulted in the software giant deliberately wasting millions of watts of power, according to the New York Times. Redmond's Quincy data center, which houses Bing, Hotmail and other cloud-based servers, had an agreement in place with a Washington state utility containing clauses which imposed penalties for under-consumption of electricity. A $210,000 fine was levied last year, since the facility was well below its power-use target, which prompted Microsoft to deliberately burn $70,000 worth of electricity in three days "in a commercially unproductive manner" to avoid it, according to its own documents. The utility board capitulated and reduced the amend to $60k, but the messy situation seems a far cry from Redmond's pledge to become carbon neutral by this summer. [Image credit: New York Times]
AUO, LG, Toshiba pay $571 million to settle LCD price fixing lawsuit, broken record keeps skipping
The way LCD price fixing lawsuits keep popping up and settling in short order, you'd think they were going out of style. The latest motley group to face a reckoning includes AU Optronics, LG and Toshiba, the combination of which has agreed to pay a total of $571 million to eight separate American states to either avoid the legal wrath of a class action lawsuit or to pay an outstanding fine. Allegedly, the trio kept LCD prices artificially high between 1996 and 2006, hiking the prices of PCs and TVs in the process. There's a slight twist here: while keeping the display builders honest is the primary goal, the class action status will net some direct rewards for the public. Americans who claim to have been wronged in the scandal can get "at least" $25, which goes a lot further towards buying an LCD than it did six years ago.
