Google Loses $22.5 Million in Apple/FTC Battle

While the patent war rages on, one key legal dispute between Google GOOG, Apple AAPL and the Federal Trade Commission is finally coming to a close. In February, the Wall Street Journal reported that Google had bypassed Apple's browser settings for guarding privacy. The search engine giant was accused of exploiting a loophole in the privacy settings for Apple's browser, Safari. Google accomplished this by adding code to some of its ads that tricked Safari into believing that a person was submitting an invisible form to Google. This caused Safari, which blocks cookies in most circumstances, to open its doors to Google, allowing the company to install a cookie on the user's device. Google's response (as quoted in the Wall Street Journal) is as follows: "The Journal mischaracterizes what happened and why. We used known Safari functionality to provide features that signed-in Google users had enabled. It's important to stress that these advertising cookies do not collect personal information." That explanation was not enough to satisfy the FTC, which fined Google for the violation. According to a new report on the Wall Street Journal (via AppleInsider), Google is expected to pay a settlement totaling $22.5 million. If true, the Wall Street Journal said that this will be largest fine that the FTC has ever imposed on a single corporation. Regardless, Google insists that it did not intend to track Safari users and that no harm came to any of these consumers. As of this writing, the Android maker has not made an official announcement regarding the unconfirmed settlement. This is not the first time that Google has gotten in trouble for its surreptitious behavior. AppleInsider notes that the FTC charged Google with using "deceptive tactics" when the company launched its previous social network, Buzz. "When companies make privacy pledges, they need to honor them," Jon Leibowitz, Chairman of the FTC, said in a statement in 2011. Leibowitz believed that the FTC's settlement with Google was "tough" and would ensure that Google will "honor its commitments to consumers and build strong privacy protections into all of its operations." On its official blog, which was last updated on July 3, Google is currently promoting its Big Tent initiative. The company is hosting events around the world to bring together "speakers with diverse points of view to debate some of the hot issues relating to the Internet and society." Privacy is among the topics being discussed. Follow me @LouisBedigianBZ