FCC Fines Google $25,000

NEW YORK -- The Federal Communications Commission has fined Google $25,000, saying the online search leader impeded an investigation into how it collected data while taking photos for its "Street View" mapping feature.

The FCC said in a report from Friday that Google Inc. "deliberately impeded and delayed" the investigation for months. The agency said that the online search leader did this by not responding to requests for information and documents.

At the same time, the FCC said it will not take action against Google over its data collection. Part of the reason for that is that it still has "significant factual questions" about the Street View project that haven't been answered. To get some answers, the FCC had subpoenaed a Google engineer who developed the software code that the company used to collect and store data. But the engineer, who is not named in the report, declined to testify, invoking his Fifth Amendment rights against incriminating himself.

In a statement, Mountain View, Calif.-based Google said it disagrees with the FCC's characterization of its cooperation with the investigation and will be filing a response.

"As the FCC notes in their report, we provided all the materials the regulators felt they needed to conclude their investigation and we were not found to have violated any laws," the company said in a prepared statement.

Google's stock fell $17.79, or 2.9 percent, to $606.81 in midday trading Monday. The stock has traded in the 52-week range from $473.02 to $670.25.

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Comments

[yebor]

11:42 AM on 04/17/2012

really, $25k? most large companies BUDGET for fines after making assessments for profit vs. penalty. unerringly the potential profit to be gained dwarfs any penalty that can be assessed by SEC, EPA, DOJ or any other regulatory agencies. that said - this is the most pathetic "penalty" i've seen lately.

[Mister Grumpy]

12:18 AM on 04/17/2012

Yeah. One minute of their profits. Oh boy, that hurt.

[EarpsTorch]

10:10 PM on 04/16/2012

FCC: We don't understand what you are doing! Give us money! Also if other government agencies get hookers we should have them too!

[dim]

10:05 PM on 04/16/2012

25k. Oh my, that'll really hurt them. A company worth more than one tenth of a trillion dollars. This is equivalent to roughly a 10 cent speeding ticket for the average bloke. They'll really have to tighten their belt now. :s

[maverick9808]

06:19 PM on 04/16/2012

Such an Innocuous point, this is blatantly a sign of what happens when a media site and apple become bedfellows.

[Saritabonitas]

04:39 PM on 04/16/2012

This is the beginning of the end. Maybe if the FCC had a more diligent intelligent staff capable of effectively communicating through red tape this would not be a problem. Besides that, why should they, a government agency, be privy to such information by a private company such as Google? SOPA, PIPA? This appears to be a political chess move to begin the process of collecting private data unauthorized by it's citizens. This is a world of CCTV without consent.

[OccamsGazer]

04:10 PM on 04/16/2012

Oh, my! How will they raise that much cash?!

[Pete Starbuckzz]

03:53 PM on 04/16/2012

I don't get it. Is this a typo, or a joke? $25,000, really (seth & amy) ?!??!?!?!?!

[GoogleMaster]

04:05 PM on 04/16/2012

That's per minute until Google resolves the issue and settles out of court.

[Pete Starbuckzz]

05:01 PM on 04/16/2012

huh? you're joking right? if thats actually the case, then its a horrible written and misleading article...

[Roc Steady]

05:23 PM on 04/16/2012

$25,000 is the maximum fine. And its not per minute.

[IHATEFOXNOISE2]

03:47 PM on 04/16/2012

"Anyone seen the petty cash box ? !

[proveit2me]

03:25 PM on 04/16/2012

Ooohh- that'll teach 'em.

[jsgaetano]

03:20 PM on 04/16/2012

Consider that wrist firmly slapped!

[IHATEFOXNOISE2]

03:58 PM on 04/16/2012

Sister Mary Francis slapped harder than that !

[jsgaetano]

04:59 PM on 04/16/2012

Even Sister Mary Elephant!

[jsgaetano]

02:57 PM on 04/16/2012

The NSA's "Total Information Awareness" program (aka "Google") doesn't like to play nice.

[sking007]

02:56 PM on 04/16/2012

In other words, Google invested $25K as an investment and it paid off.

[bbrown37]

04:02 PM on 04/16/2012

The media should start phrasing these "penalties" and "fines" the way you just did, because that's how the corporate perpetrators do on their balance sheets.

Corporate Banks invested 250 million dollars with the U.S. government that ultimately yielded bajillions of dollars in returns, something like that.