all-in-one privacy solution":["Proton Unlimited es solución de privacidad más completa"],"Black Friday":["Black Friday"],"No ads. Privacy by default.":["Sin publicidad. La privacidad por bandera."],"People before profits":["Nos importan las personas, no los beneficios"],"Security through transparency":["Seguridad con transparencia"],"The best Proton Mail ${ BLACK_FRIDAY } deals":["Las mejores ofertas del ${ BLACK_FRIDAY } de Proton Mail"],"The world’s only community- supported email service":["El único servicio de correo electrónico con apoyo de la comunidad"]},"specialoffer:limited":{"${ hours } hour":["${ hours } hora","${ hours } horas"],"${ hoursLeft }, ${ minutesLeft } and ${ secondsLeft } left":["Tiempo restante: ${ hoursLeft }, ${ minutesLeft } y ${ secondsLeft }"],"${ minutes } minute":["${ minutes } minuto","${ minutes } minutos"],"${ seconds } second":["${ seconds } segundo","${ seconds } segundos"],"Limited time offer":["Oferta por tiempo limitado"]},"specialoffer:listitem":{"Create multiple addresses":["Crea varias direcciones"],"Hide-my-email aliases":["Alias de hide-my-email"],"Quickly unsubscribe from newsletters":["Date de baja rápidamente de boletines"],"Use your own domain name":["Usa tu propio nombre de dominio"]},"specialoffer:logos":{"As featured in":["Hablan de nosotros"]},"specialoffer:metadescription":{"Get an encrypted email that protects your privacy":["Apuesta por un servicio de correo electrónico cifrado que protege tu privacidad"]},"specialoffer:metatitle":{"Proton Mail Black Friday Sale - Up to 40% off":["Rebajas de Black Friday de Proton: hasta un 40 % de descuento"]},"specialoffer:newmetadescription":{"Get up to 40% off Proton Mail subscriptions this Black Friday. Find great deals on our secure end-to-end encrypted email plans.":["Contrata Proton Mail con hasta un 40 % de descuento en las rebajas de Black Friday. Encontrarás nuestros planes de correo electrónico cifrado de extremo a extremo al mejor precio."]},"specialoffer:newmetatitle":{"Proton Mail Black Friday sale | Up to 40% off secure email":["Rebajas de Black Friday en Proton Mail | Correo electrónico seguro con hasta un 40 % de descuento"]},"specialoffer:note":{"* Billed at ${ TOTAL_SUM } for the first year":["* A un precio de ${ TOTAL_SUM } durante el primer año"],"*Billed at ${ TOTAL_SUM } for the first 2 years":["*A un precio de ${ TOTAL_SUM } durante los 2 primeros años"],"30-day money-back guarantee":["Garantía de devolución de 30 días"],"Billed at ${ TOTAL_SUM } for the first 2 years":["A un precio de ${ TOTAL_SUM } durante los 2 primeros años"],"Billed at ${ TOTAL_SUM } for the first year":["A un precio de ${ TOTAL_SUM } durante el primer año"],"You save ${ SAVE_SUM }":["Ahorras ${ SAVE_SUM }"]},"specialoffer:off":{"${ DISCOUNT } off":["−${ DISCOUNT }"],"${ PERCENT_OFF } off":["−${ PERCENT_OFF }"]},"specialoffer:testimonial":{"I love my ProtonMail":["Adoro ProtonMail"],"My favorite email service":["Mi servicio de correo electrónico favorito"],"Thanks Proton for keeping us all safe in the complicated internet universe.":["Gracias, Proton, por brindarnos protección en este mundo salvaje de Internet."],"You get what you pay for. In the case of big tech, if you pay nothing, you get used. I quit using Gmail and switched to @ProtonMail":["Dan justo lo que prometen. Si las grandes tecnológicas te ofrecen algo gratis, se aprovechan de ti, por eso dejé de usar Gmail y me pasé a @ProtonMail"]},"specialoffer:time":{"Days":["días"],"Hours":["horas"],"Min":["min"]},"specialoffer:title":{"And much more":["Y mucho más"],"Make your inbox yours":["Personaliza tu bandeja de entrada"],"Safe from trackers":["Evita los rastreadores"],"Stay organized":["Mantenlo todo en orden"],"Black Friday email deals":["Ofertas en correo electrónico del Black Friday"],"Don’t just take our word for it":["Lee testimonios de otras personas"],"Our story":["Nuestra historia"],"Transfer your data from Google in one click":["Transfiere tus datos de Google con un clic"]},"specialoffer:tooltip":{"Access blocked content and browse privately. Includes ${ TOTAL_SERVERS }+ servers in ${ TOTAL_COUNTRIES }+ countries, connect up to 10 devices, access worldwide streaming services, malware and ad-blocker, and more.":["Accede a contenido bloqueado y navega con privacidad. Incluye ${ TOTAL_SERVERS } servidores en más de ${ TOTAL_COUNTRIES } países. Conecta hasta 10 dispositivos, acceder a servicios de streaming de todo el mundo, dispón de la protección de bloqueadores de malware y anuncios, etc."],"Easily share your calendar with your family, friends or colleagues, and view external calendars.":["Comparte tu calendario con familiares, amigos y compañeros fácilmente y consulta calendarios externos."],"Includes support for 1 custom email domain, 10 email addresses, 10 hide-my-email aliases, calendar sharing, and more.":["Incluye compatibilidad con 1 dominio de correo electrónico personalizado, 10 direcciones de correo electrónico, 10 alias de hide-my-email, posibilidad de compartir calendario, etc."],"Includes support for 3 custom email domains, 15 email addresses, unlimited hide-my-email aliases, calendar sharing, and more.":["Incluye compatibilidad con 3 dominios de correo electrónico personalizado, 15 direcciones de correo electrónico, alias ilimitados de hide-my-email, posibilidad de compartir calendario, etc."],"Manage up to 25 calendars, mobile apps, secured with end-to-end encryption, 1-click calendar import from Google, and more.":["Gestiona hasta 25 calendarios protegidos con cifrado de extremo a extremo y con opción, por ejemplo, de importar los de Google con un solo clic."]},"Status Banner":{"At the moment we are experiencing issues with the Proton VPN service":["Hay problemas con el servicio de Proton VPN en estos momentos"],"Learn more":["Más información"]},"Status banner":{"Learn more":["Más información"],"Please note that at the moment we are experiencing issues with the ${ issues[0] } service.":["Ten presente que, en estos momentos, el servicio de ${ issues[0] } está dando problemas de funcionamiento."],"We are experiencing issues with one or more services at the moment.":["Uno o varios servicios están dando problemas de funcionamiento en estos momentos."]},"suggestions":{"Suggestions":["Sugerencias"]},"Support":{"Sub category":["Subcategoría","Subcategorías"]},"Support article":{"${ readingTime } min":["${ readingTime } min","${ readingTime } min"],"Category":["Categoría","Categorías"],"Didn’t find what you were looking for?":["¿No has encontrado lo que buscabas?"],"General contact":["Contacto para consultas generales"],"Get help":["Obtener ayuda"],"Legal contact":["Contacto para cuestiones legales"],"Media contact":["Contacto para prensa y medios de comunicación"],"Partnerships contact":["Contacto para colaboraciones"],"Reading":["Lectura"]},"Support categories":{"Browse Proton product support":["Consulta la página de asistencia para productos de Proton"]},"Support category":{"There is no article in this category yet.":["No hay ningún artículo aún en esta categoría."]},"Support troubleshooting":{"--- Select ---":["--- Selecciona ---"],"App version":["Versión de la aplicación"],"Browser":["Navegador"],"Check if this helps":["Comprueba a ver si te sirve"],"Choose a category for your question":["Elige la categoría de tu consulta"],"Choose a product":["Elegir producto"],"Did this solve your issue ?":["¿Te ha resultado útil para resolver el problema?"],"Faster assistance is just a few clicks away — please make your selections":["Haz unos cuantos clics para obtener ayuda más rápidamente. Haz tu selección."],"No, contact support":["No, contactar con el equipo de asistencia"],"Proton account":["Cuenta de Proton"],"Proton Bridge":["Proton Bridge"],"Proton Calendar":["Proton Calendar"],"Proton Drive":["Proton Drive"],"Proton for Business":["Proton for Business"],"Proton Mail":["Proton Mail"],"Proton Pass":["Proton Pass"],"Proton VPN":["Proton VPN"],"Thank you for your feedback":["Gracias por tus comentarios"],"Troubleshooting":["Solución de problemas"],"What can we help with ?":["¿Cómo podemos ayudarte?"],"Yes":["Sí"]},"support_modal_search_query":{"Search query":["Consulta de búsqueda"]},"support_search_button":{"Search":["Buscar"]},"support_search_i_am_looking_for":{"I'm looking for":["Busco"]},"SupportForm":{"For a faster resolution, please report the issue from the Bridge app: Help > Report a problem.":["Para una resolución más rápida, informa del problema desde la aplicación Bridge: Ayuda > Notificar un problema."],"Information":["Información"]},"SupportForm:option":{"Account Security":["Seguridad de la cuenta"],"Contacts":["Contactos"],"Custom email domain":["Dominio de correo electrónico personalizado"],"Email delivery and Spam":["Envío de correos electrónico y spam"],"Encryption":["Cifrado"],"Login and password":["Inicio de sesión y contraseña"],"Merge aliases and accounts":["Fusionar seudónimos y cuentas"],"Migrate to Proton":["Migrar a Proton"],"Notifications":["Notificaciones"],"Other":["Otro"],"Plans and billing":["Planes y facturación"],"Proton for Business":["Proton for Business"],"Sign up":["Regístrate"],"Storage":["Almacenamiento"],"Users, addresses, and identities":["Usuarios, direcciones e identidades"]},"SupportForm:optionIntro":{"Select a topic":["Selecciona un tema"]},"swiss_baseed_feature":{"Swiss based":["Con sede en Suiza"]},"Testimonial":{"Awards":["Premios"],"Customers":["Clientes"],"Featured":["Destacado"],"Go to testimonial source":["Ir a la fuente del testimonio"],"Reviews":["Opiniones"],"Videos":["Vídeos"]},"Text":{"Find the plan that's right for you":["Encuentra el plan más adecuado para tus necesidades"],"If you need help, check out our ${ supportLink }.":["Si necesitas ayuda, consulta nuestra ${ supportLink }."],"The page you’re looking for might have been removed, or it could be an\nold link.":["Es posible que la página que buscas haya sido eliminada o que sea un\nenlace antiguo."]},"Title":{"On this page":["En esta página"],"Related articles":["Artículos relacionados"],"Share ${ thisPage }":["Compartir ${ thisPage }"],"Thank you!":["¡Gracias!"],"this page":["esta página"]},"Tooltip":{"More information":["Más información"]},"tooltip_calendar":{"Create up to 20 custom & shareable encrypted calendars. On top of that, add up to 5 calendars from friends, family, colleagues, and organizations.":["Crea hasta 20 calendarios personalizados y cifrados que puedes compartir con otras personas, y añade además hasta 5 calendarios de amigos, familiares, compañeros y organizaciones."]},"tooltip_vpn":{"Access blocked content and browse privately. Includes ${ TOTAL_SERVERS }+ servers in ${ TOTAL_COUNTRIES }+ countries, highest VPN speed, ${ TOTAL_VPN_CONNECTIONS } VPN connections, worldwide streaming services, malware and ad-blocker, and more.":["Accede a contenido bloqueado y navega en privado. Tendrás a tu disposición más de ${ TOTAL_SERVERS } servidores en más de ${ TOTAL_COUNTRIES } países, VPN de máxima velocidad, ${ TOTAL_VPN_CONNECTIONS } conexiones VPN, servicios de streaming en todo el mundo, bloqueadores de malware y de anuncios, y mucho más."],"Access blocked content and browse privately. Includes ${ TOTAL_SERVERS }+ servers in ${ TOTAL_COUNTRIES }+ countries, highest VPN speed, 10 VPN connections, worldwide streaming services, malware and ad-blocker, and more.":["Accede a contenido bloqueado y navega en privado. Tendrás a tu disposición más de ${ TOTAL_SERVERS } servidores en más de ${ TOTAL_COUNTRIES } países, VPN de máxima velocidad, 10 conexiones VPN, servicios de streaming en todo el mundo, bloqueadores de malware y de anuncios, y mucho más."]},"version_history_label":{"Version history":["Historial de versiones"]},"version_history_tooltip":{"Store up to ${ versionHistoryNumber } versions of each file for up to ${ years } years":["Almacena hasta ${ versionHistoryNumber } versiones de cada archivo durante ${ years } años como máximo"]},"vpn_features_link":{"View VPN plans":["Ver planes de VPN"]},"vpn_features_useCase":{"Access blocked content and browse privately":["Accede a contenido bloqueado y navega con privacidad"]}}},"unleashApi":"https://account.proton.me/api"};
// We need to import data (the framework context) from the server
// This Astro feature with define:vars works well but creates an inline script
// So we can't directly import the initFramework helper, we have to store the context
window.frameworkContext = frameworkContext;
})();
Google’s $391 million settlement pushes Big Tech fines over $3 billion in 2022 | Proton
This week, Google agreed to settle a lawsuit(new window) brought by 40 US states for $391.5 million. Law enforcement officials in those states said the company had secretly tracked the locations of Android users who thought their location tracking was turned off.
It’s the largest privacy settlement Alphabet (Google’s parent company) has ever agreed to pay. But Big Tech seems perfectly happy to pay vast sums while skirting the law — because it keeps happening.
In 2022 alone, Google has paid out or faced over $1 billion for privacy and antitrust violations, according to an inventory of publicly available information we compiled. Meta, Apple, and Amazon have also been hit with massive penalties around the world.
The total cost of fines and settlements — not counting the associated legal costs — pending or paid by those four companies alone likely exceeded $3 billion in 2022. (A list of the fines appears at the bottom of this article.)
Big Tech keeps breaking the law
Big Tech companies get hit with so many fines that it’s easy to become numb to the headlines. But paying billions in penalties to government regulators should not be seen as normal. The consistency of these violations reflects a business culture that clearly doesn’t care about consumer protections and pursues profit at all costs.
In almost every case, the companies faced penalties either for violating the privacy of their users or for antitrust practices that limit users’ freedom of choice in the marketplace.
For example, Indian regulators fined Google $161 million in October for putting its own apps at the top of the Google Play Store and otherwise abusing its near-monopoly for app distribution. Less than a week later, India slapped them with another $223 million fine for a similar antitrust violation: hurting other apps by preventing third-party payment platforms.
As we have previously written, antitrust violations are really about privacy. Big Tech companies use their dominant position to entice users with “free” products that actually harvest user data for advertising. Meanwhile, they suppress privacy-focused competitors.
All the Big Tech firms have abused their monopoly positions. But Meta and Google in particular also abuse users’ privacy directly.
In September, the EU announced a $400 million fine against Meta for its carelessness with children’s personal data on Instagram. (The company said it would appeal.) And Google has been pursued by regulators all year over its Android location tracking practices, its use of cookies, and even a GDPR violation.
Why the fines keep coming
After so many billions down the drain, it’s reasonable to wonder why the companies don’t try to shore up their operations and comply with local laws. This assumes, however, that doing the right thing is important to them.
In reality, Big Tech has calculated that it’s more costly to change their business models than it is for them to pay the fines. To put it simply, breaking the law is too profitable for them to stop.
This isn’t a secret. In February, European Commission Vice President and digital chief Margrethe Vestager, the woman in charge of enforcing the EU’s GDPR, said Big Tech is no longer afraid of regulators(new window):
“Some gatekeepers may be tempted to play for time or try to circumvent the rules. Apple’s conduct in the Netherlands these days may be an example. As we understand it, Apple essentially prefers paying periodic fines, rather than comply with a decision of the Dutch Competition Authority on the terms and conditions for third parties to access its App Store.”
Big Tech insists they’re responsible stewards of your data, yet they’re repeat offenders when it comes to illegal data collection and privacy protection.
How to restore privacy and competition
Big Tech will never change their business model of profiting off of people’s personal data. It’s too lucrative for them. And their willingness to keep spending billions on fines proves it.
These violations have real-world consequences for people. Many of these fines are responses to Big Tech violating millions of people’s privacy. The rest are to punish Big Tech’s attempts to unfairly tilt the market in its favor and block competition.
Big Tech’s willingness to continuously and flagrantly disregard the data protections governments have put in place is essentially a refusal to accept that people should have any control over their data. And its disregard for fair market legislation is an attempt to prevent people from choosing online services that do respect their privacy.
The only way to enjoy privacy and freedom on the internet is to choose services that treat customers like people, not products. Proton is building a privacy-focused ecosystem of services you use every day.
From our email and calendar to our drive and VPN(new window) services, Proton gives you privacy by default thanks to our strong encryption and ad-free business model.
At Proton, we don’t need to insist that we’re responsible stewards of your data because we collect virtually none of your data to begin with. Because of our end-to-end encryption, the contents of your emails, calendar events, and drive folders are completely inaccessible to us.
Best of all, with no fines to pay, we can focus on improving our products and building a better internet for all.
Note: The tables below ignore fines from Russia as most of them have to do with tech companies not censoring content on the invasion of Ukraine.
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