The settlement, while representing the largest fine the FTC has ever imposed, is a relatively small $22.5 Million. This fine in unlikely to make Google stay away from this type of behavior, although it could be that the FTC did not want to try and take too much here as they are still looking into Google for possible Anti-competitive practices (how do they keep missing Apple with these?). Right now they are still mulling over the possibility of bringing a case against Google for this and maybe even patent abuse (again… hello Apple???) although the patent abuse case is really against Motorola Mobility. Google only gets thrown into the mix because they now own Motorola Mobility.

Still I have to say that it is nice to see them finally do something (even if it is small) to companies that go out of their way to violate consumer privacy. Now maybe they will head over and pay Zuckerberg a visit and follow that up with a stop by Apple’s place. It might make some of these companies slow down their anti-consumer trends and force them to get back into the business of making new and better products for consumers to use and buy… But we doubt that those will happen as neither Apple nor Facebook opposed SOPA or PIPA in the way that Google did. To put it bluntly Google is on the FTC’s Sh*t list for a while.

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