all-in-one privacy solution":["O Proton Unlimited é uma solução única de privacidade"],"Black Friday":["Black Friday"],"No ads. Privacy by default.":["Sem anúncios. Privacidade por padrão."],"People before profits":["Pessoas acima do lucro"],"Security through transparency":["Segurança por meio da transparência"],"The best Proton Mail ${ BLACK_FRIDAY } deals":["As melhores ofertas de ${ BLACK_FRIDAY } do Proton Mail"],"The world’s only community- supported email service":["O único serviço de e-mail do mundo apoiado pela comunidade"]},"specialoffer:limited":{"${ hours } hour":["${ hours } hora","${ hours } horas"],"${ hoursLeft }, ${ minutesLeft } and ${ secondsLeft } left":["${ hoursLeft }, ${ minutesLeft }, e ${ secondsLeft } restantes"],"${ minutes } minute":["${ minutes } minuto","${ minutes } minutos"],"${ seconds } second":["${ seconds } segundo","${ seconds } segundos"],"Limited time offer":["Oferta por tempo limitado"]},"specialoffer:listitem":{"Create multiple addresses":["Crie vários endereços"],"Hide-my-email aliases":["Use aliases do hide-my-email"],"Quickly unsubscribe from newsletters":["Cancele a assinatura de newsletters rapidamente"],"Use your own domain name":["Use seu próprio nome de domínio"]},"specialoffer:logos":{"As featured in":["Destaques"]},"specialoffer:metadescription":{"Get an encrypted email that protects your privacy":["Obtenha um e-mail criptografado que proteja sua privacidade"]},"specialoffer:metatitle":{"Proton Mail Black Friday Sale - Up to 40% off":["Oferta de Black Friday do Proton Mail - Até 40% de desconto"]},"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.":["Obtenha até 40% de desconto nas assinaturas do Proton Mail nesta Black Friday. Confira ótimas ofertas em nossos planos de e-mail seguro com criptografia de ponta a ponta."]},"specialoffer:newmetatitle":{"Proton Mail Black Friday sale | Up to 40% off secure email":["Oferta de Black Friday do Proton Mail - Até 40% de desconto no e-mail protegido"]},"specialoffer:note":{"* Billed at ${ TOTAL_SUM } for the first year":["* Com o preço de ${ TOTAL_SUM } no primeiro ano"],"*Billed at ${ TOTAL_SUM } for the first 2 years":["*Com o preço de ${ TOTAL_SUM } nos primeiros dois anos"],"30-day money-back guarantee":["Garantia de reembolso de 30 dias"],"Billed at ${ TOTAL_SUM } for the first 2 years":["Com o preço de ${ TOTAL_SUM } nos primeiros dois anos"],"Billed at ${ TOTAL_SUM } for the first year":["Com o preço de ${ TOTAL_SUM } no primeiro ano"],"You save ${ SAVE_SUM }":["Economize ${ SAVE_SUM }"]},"specialoffer:off":{"${ DISCOUNT } off":["-${ DISCOUNT }"],"${ PERCENT_OFF } off":["-${ PERCENT_OFF }"]},"specialoffer:testimonial":{"I love my ProtonMail":["Adoro ProtonMail"],"My favorite email service":["Meu serviço favorito de e-mail"],"Thanks Proton for keeping us all safe in the complicated internet universe.":["Agradecemos ao Proton por nos manter a salvo no complicado universo da 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":["Você recebe pelo que paga. No caso das grandes tecnologias, você se acostuma quando não paga nada. Parei de usar o Gmail e troquei para o @ProtonMail"]},"specialoffer:time":{"Days":["Dias"],"Hours":["Horas"],"Min":["Min"]},"specialoffer:title":{"And much more":["E muito mais"],"Make your inbox yours":["Deixe a caixa de entrada do seu jeito"],"Safe from trackers":["A salvo de rastreadores"],"Stay organized":["Mantenha-se organizado"],"Black Friday email deals":["Ofertas de e-mail da Black Friday"],"Don’t just take our word for it":["Não confie apenas em nossa palavra"],"Our story":["Nossa história"],"Transfer your data from Google in one click":["Transfira seus dados do Google com um clique"]},"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.":["Acesse conteúdo bloqueado e navegue com privacidade. Inclui ${ TOTAL_SERVERS } servidores em +${ TOTAL_COUNTRIES } países, conecte até 10 dispositivos, acesse serviços de streaming do mundo todo, malware e bloqueador de anúncios e muito mais."],"Easily share your calendar with your family, friends or colleagues, and view external calendars.":["Compartilhe facilmente seus calendários com amigos, familiares ou colegas e visualize calendários externos."],"Includes support for 1 custom email domain, 10 email addresses, 10 hide-my-email aliases, calendar sharing, and more.":["Inclui suporte para 1 domínio de e-mail personalizado, 10 endereços de e-mail, 10 aliases do hide-my-email, compartilhamento de calendário e muito mais."],"Includes support for 3 custom email domains, 15 email addresses, unlimited hide-my-email aliases, calendar sharing, and more.":["Inclui suporte para 3 domínios de e-mail personalizados, 15 endereços de e-mail, aliases ilimitados do hide-my-email, compartilhamento de calendário e muito mais."],"Manage up to 25 calendars, mobile apps, secured with end-to-end encryption, 1-click calendar import from Google, and more.":["Gerencie até 25 calendários, apps para dispositivos móveis, protegidos com criptografia de ponta a ponta, importação de calendário com 1 clique do Google e muito mais."]},"Status Banner":{"At the moment we are experiencing issues with the Proton VPN service":["No momento estamos enfrentando problemas com o serviço Proton VPN"],"Learn more":["Saiba mais"]},"Status banner":{"Learn more":["Saiba mais"],"Please note that at the moment we are experiencing issues with the ${ issues[0] } service.":["No momento, estamos com problemas no serviço ${ issues[0] }."],"We are experiencing issues with one or more services at the moment.":["No momento, estamos com problemas em um ou mais serviços."]},"suggestions":{"Suggestions":["Sugestões"]},"Support":{"Sub category":["Subcategoria","Subcategorias"]},"Support article":{"${ readingTime } min":["${ readingTime } min","${ readingTime } min"],"Category":["Categoria","Categorias"],"Didn’t find what you were looking for?":["Não encontrou o que procura?"],"General contact":["Contato geral"],"Get help":["Obter ajuda"],"Legal contact":["Contato jurídico"],"Media contact":["Contato de mídia"],"Partnerships contact":["Contato de parcerias"],"Reading":["Leitura"]},"Support categories":{"Browse Proton product support":["Navegar pelo suporte a produtos da Proton"]},"Support category":{"There is no article in this category yet.":["Ainda não há nenhum artigo nesta categoria."]},"Support troubleshooting":{"--- Select ---":["--- Selecionar ---"],"App version":["Versão do aplicativo"],"Browser":["Navegador"],"Check if this helps":["Confira se isso ajuda"],"Choose a category for your question":["Escolha uma categoria para sua pergunta"],"Did this solve your issue ?":["Isso resolveu seu problema?"],"Faster assistance is just a few clicks away — please make your selections":["Assistência mais rápida está a apenas alguns cliques de distância — faça suas seleções"],"No, contact support":["Não, entrar em contato com o suporte"],"Thank you for your feedback":["Agradecemos pelo feedback"],"Troubleshooting":["Solução de problemas"],"What can we help with ?":["Como podemos ajudar você?"],"Yes":["Sim"]},"support_modal_search_query":{"Search query":["Consulta de pesquisa"]},"support_search_button":{"Search":["Pesquisar"]},"support_search_i_am_looking_for":{"I'm looking for":["Estou procurando"]},"SupportForm":{"For a faster resolution, please report the issue from the Bridge app: Help > Report a problem.":["Para uma resolução mais rápida, informe o problema no aplicativo Bridge: Ajuda > Comunicar um problema."],"Information":["Informações"]},"SupportForm:option":{"Account Security":["Segurança da conta"],"Contacts":["Contatos"],"Custom email domain":["Domínio de e-mail personalizado"],"Email delivery and Spam":["Entrega de e-mail e spam"],"Encryption":["Criptografia"],"Login and password":["Início de sessão e senha"],"Merge aliases and accounts":["Combinar alias e contas"],"Migrate to Proton":["Migrar para a Proton"],"Notifications":["Notificações"],"Other":["Outros"],"Plans and billing":["Planos e faturamento"],"Proton for Business":["Proton for Business"],"Sign up":["Criar conta"],"Storage":["Armazenamento"],"Users, addresses, and identities":["Usuários, endereços e identidades"]},"SupportForm:optionIntro":{"Select a topic":["Selecione um tópico"]},"swiss_baseed_feature":{"Swiss based":["Sediado na Suíça"]},"Testimonial":{"Awards":["Prêmios"],"Customers":["Clientes"],"Featured":["Em destaque"],"Go to testimonial source":["Ir para a página inicial de depoimentos"],"Reviews":["Avaliações"],"Videos":["Vídeos"]},"Text":{"Find the plan that's right for you":["Encontre o plano certo para você"],"If you need help, check out our ${ supportLink }.":["Se precisar de ajuda, confira nossa ${ supportLink }."],"The page you’re looking for might have been removed, or it could be an\nold link.":["É possível que a página que você está procurando tenha sido removida ou seja um\nlink antigo."]},"Title":{"On this page":["Nesta página"],"Related articles":["Artigos relacionados"],"Share ${ thisPage }":["Compartilhar ${ thisPage }"],"Thank you!":["Obrigado!"],"this page":["esta página"]},"Tooltip":{"More information":["Mais informações"]},"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.":["Crie até 20 calendários compartilháveis personalizados e criptografados. Além disso, é possível adicional até 5 calendários de amigos, família, colegas e organizações."]},"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.":["Acesse conteúdo bloqueado e navegue com privacidade. Inclui mais de ${ TOTAL_SERVERS } servidores em mais de +${ TOTAL_COUNTRIES } países, VPN com a mais alta velocidade, ${ TOTAL_VPN_CONNECTIONS } conexões VPN, serviços de streaming no mundo todo, malware e bloqueador de anúncios e muito mais."],"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.":["Acesse conteúdo bloqueado e navegue com privacidade. Inclui mais de ${ TOTAL_SERVERS } servidores em mais de +${ TOTAL_COUNTRIES } países, VPN com a mais alta velocidade, 10 conexões VPN, serviços de streaming no mundo todo, malware e bloqueador de anúncios e muito mais."]},"version_history_label":{"Version history":["Histórico de versões"]},"version_history_tooltip":{"Store up to ${ versionHistoryNumber } versions of each file for up to ${ years } years":["Armazene até ${ versionHistoryNumber } versões de cada arquivo por até ${ years } anos"]},"vpn_features_link":{"View VPN plans":["Visualizar planos de VPN"]},"vpn_features_useCase":{"Access blocked content and browse privately":["Acesse conteúdo bloqueado e navegue com privacidade"]}}},"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(new window). 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(new window), 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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