谷歌因收集兒童數(shù)據(jù)被處以2.67億美元罰款

Google, which is owned by Alphabet Inc, and its YouTube video service will pay US$170 million to settle allegations that it broke federal law by collecting personal information about children, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said on Wednesday.

美國(guó)聯(lián)邦貿(mào)易委員會(huì)(FTC)周三表示，Alphabet Inc.旗下的谷歌(Google)及其YouTube視頻服務(wù)將支付1.7億美元罰款，就其收集兒童個(gè)人信息違反聯(lián)邦法律的指控達(dá)成和解。

YouTube had been accused of tracking viewers of children's channels using cookies without parental consent and using those cookies to deliver millions of dollars in targeted advertisements to those viewers.

YouTube被指控在未經(jīng)家長(zhǎng)同意的情況下，跟蹤兒童頻道的觀眾使用cookie，并利用這些cookies向這些觀眾提供數(shù)百萬(wàn)美元的定向廣告。

The settlement with the FTC and the New York Attorney-General's office, which will receive US$34 million, is the largest since a law banning collecting information about children under age 13 came into effect in 1998. The law was revised in 2013 to include "cookies," used to track a person's internet viewing habits.

自1998年禁止收集13歲以下兒童信息的法律生效以來(lái)，與聯(lián)邦貿(mào)易委員會(huì)和紐約總檢察長(zhǎng)辦公室達(dá)成的和解金額最大，和解金額將達(dá)到3400萬(wàn)美元。這項(xiàng)法律在2013年進(jìn)行了修訂，其中包括“cookies”，用于跟蹤一個(gè)人的上網(wǎng)習(xí)慣。

It is also small compared with the company's revenues. Alphabet, which generates about 85 percent of its revenue from sales of ad space and ad technology, in July reported total second-quarter revenue of US$38.9 billion.

與該公司的收入相比，這個(gè)數(shù)字也很小。Alphabet約85%的收入來(lái)自廣告空間和廣告技術(shù)的銷售，該公司7月份公布第二季度總收入為389億美元。

YouTube said in a statement on Wednesday that in four months it would begin treating all data collected from people watching children's content as if it came from a child. "This means that we will limit data collection and use on videos made for kids only to what is needed to support the operation of the service," YouTube said on its blog.

YouTube在周三的一份聲明中表示，在四個(gè)月之內(nèi)，處理掉從觀看兒童內(nèi)容的用戶那里收集到的所有數(shù)據(jù)，就像這些數(shù)據(jù)來(lái)自兒童一樣。YouTube在其博客上表示:“這意味著，我們將把為兒童視頻的數(shù)據(jù)收集和使用，限制在支持該服務(wù)運(yùn)營(yíng)所需的范圍內(nèi)。”

FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection director Andrew Smith said at a news conference Wednesday the settlement "is changing YouTube's business model, that YouTube cannot bury its head in the sand, YouTube cannot pretend that it is not aware of the content on its platform and hope to escape liability".

美國(guó)聯(lián)邦貿(mào)易委員會(huì)消費(fèi)者保護(hù)局局長(zhǎng)安德魯史密斯(andrew smith)周三在一次新聞發(fā)布會(huì)上表示，和解“正在改變youtube的商業(yè)模式，youtube不能把頭埋在沙子里，youtube不能假裝不知道其平臺(tái)上的內(nèi)容，并希望逃避責(zé)任”。

Once the settlement takes effect, the FTC plans to "conduct a sweep of the YouTube platform to determine whether there remains child-directed content" in which personal information is being collected, Smith said. The FTC could take actions against individual content creators or channel owners as a result.

史密斯說(shuō)，一旦和解生效，聯(lián)邦貿(mào)易委員會(huì)計(jì)劃“對(duì)YouTube平臺(tái)進(jìn)行一次掃描，以確定是否仍存在收集個(gè)人信息的兒童導(dǎo)向內(nèi)容”。因此，聯(lián)邦貿(mào)易委員會(huì)可能會(huì)對(duì)個(gè)別內(nèi)容創(chuàng)作者或頻道所有者采取行動(dòng)。

In late August, YouTube announced it would launch YouTube Kids with separate niches for children depending on their ages and designed to exclude disturbing videos. It has no behavioural advertising.

8月下旬，youtube宣布將推出youtube兒童頻道，根據(jù)兒童的年齡為他們提供獨(dú)立的小天地，旨在排除令人不安的視頻，沒(méi)有廣告。

YouTube allows companies to create channels, which include advertisements that create revenue for both the company and YouTube.

YouTube允許公司創(chuàng)建頻道，包括為公司和YouTube創(chuàng)造收入的廣告。

In its complaint, the government said that YouTube touted its popularity with children in marketing itself to companies like Mattel and Hasbro. It told Mattel that "YouTube is today's leader in reaching children age 6-11 against top TV channels," according to the complaint.

政府在訴狀中表示，YouTube在向美泰(Mattel)和孩之寶(Hasbro)等公司推銷自己時(shí)，大肆宣傳自己在兒童中的受歡迎程度。訴狀稱，該公司對(duì)美泰表示，“YouTube在吸引6至11歲兒童方面，領(lǐng)先于頂級(jí)電視頻道。”

"YouTube touted its popularity with children to prospective corporate clients," FTC Chairman Joe Simons said in a statement. "Yet when it came to complying with (federal law banning collecting data on children), the company refused to acknowledge that portions of its platform were clearly directed to kids."

“YouTube向潛在的公司客戶兜售它在兒童中的受歡迎程度，”FTC主席Joe Simons在一份聲明中說(shuō)。“然而，在遵守(聯(lián)邦法律禁止收集有關(guān)兒童的數(shù)據(jù))方面，該公司拒絕承認(rèn)其平臺(tái)的部分內(nèi)容明確針對(duì)兒童。”

New York Attorney-General Letitia James said the companies "abused their power".

紐約總檢察長(zhǎng)萊蒂蒂婭·詹姆斯說(shuō)，這些公司“濫用了權(quán)力”。

"Google and YouTube knowingly and illegally monitored, tracked, and served targeted ads to young children just to keep advertising dollars rolling in," said James.

詹姆斯說(shuō)：“谷歌和YouTube明知故犯地非法監(jiān)控、跟蹤并為兒童提供有針對(duì)性的廣告，目的只是為了繼續(xù)增加廣告收入。”

In addition to the monetary fine, the proposed settlement requires the company to refrain from violating the law in the future and to notify channel owners about their obligations to get consent from parents before collecting information on children.

除了罰款之外，擬議中的和解協(xié)議還要求該公司今后不得違法，并通知頻道所有者，在收集有關(guān)兒童的信息之前，他們有義務(wù)征得父母同意。