Data Protection Commission fines Google €403M over processing of location data

john_strinlai

for perspective, €403M = ~30 hours of net income, or ~10 hours of revenue (based on 2025 numbers, current exchange rates).

tempodox

They need to multiply by 100 to move that fine out of “cost of doing business” range.

scottyah

Oh geez, GDPR again. Does this mean I'll have to close out a popup every time I open Google Maps or do a search?

noworld

Do they only fine American companies in Europe?

fintechjock

The EU seems to live in a world all on its own. They can’t fine enough to actually change the behavior of big companies, but they can fine enough to kill their own startup culture. I don’t feel bad for them anymore. Their voters seem to be fine with this status quo. And I get why other countries see these fines as trying to raise taxes by other means because it hasn’t and won’t change anything.

bobmarleybiceps

it's depressing how small google's / meta's fines are. should be a % of revenue or total stock valuation or something.

profsummergig

Someone recently fined Facebook $17 Billion. It was on the front page of NYT for 6 days (like as if it was a huge "get"). About 1% of FB's market cap. And their sins get washed away. Everybody wins. At this rate, fining tech-cos will be a major source of revenue for governments. Everybody wins.