谷歌因收集儿童数据被处以2.67亿美元罚款

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.

美国联邦贸易委员会(FTC)周三表示，Alphabet Inc.旗下的谷歌(Google)及其YouTube视频服务将支付1.7亿美元罚款，就其收集儿童个人信息违反联邦法律的指控达成和解。

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被指控在未经家长同意的情况下，跟踪儿童频道的观众使用cookie，并利用这些cookies向这些观众提供数百万美元的定向广告。

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岁以下儿童信息的法律生效以来，与联邦贸易委员会和纽约总检察长办公室达成的和解金额最大，和解金额将达到3400万美元。这项法律在2013年进行了修订，其中包括“cookies”，用于跟踪一个人的上网习惯。

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.

与该公司的收入相比，这个数字也很小。Alphabet约85%的收入来自广告空间和广告技术的销售，该公司7月份公布第二季度总收入为389亿美元。

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在周三的一份声明中表示，在四个月之内，处理掉从观看儿童内容的用户那里收集到的所有数据，就像这些数据来自儿童一样。YouTube在其博客上表示:“这意味着，我们将把为儿童视频的数据收集和使用，限制在支持该服务运营所需的范围内。”

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".

美国联邦贸易委员会消费者保护局局长安德鲁史密斯(andrew smith)周三在一次新闻发布会上表示，和解“正在改变youtube的商业模式，youtube不能把头埋在沙子里，youtube不能假装不知道其平台上的内容，并希望逃避责任”。

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.

史密斯说，一旦和解生效，联邦贸易委员会计划“对YouTube平台进行一次扫描，以确定是否仍存在收集个人信息的儿童导向内容”。因此，联邦贸易委员会可能会对个别内容创作者或频道所有者采取行动。

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宣布将推出youtube儿童频道，根据儿童的年龄为他们提供独立的小天地，旨在排除令人不安的视频，没有广告。

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

YouTube允许公司创建频道，包括为公司和YouTube创造收入的广告。

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.

政府在诉状中表示，YouTube在向美泰(Mattel)和孩之宝(Hasbro)等公司推销自己时，大肆宣传自己在儿童中的受欢迎程度。诉状称，该公司对美泰表示，“YouTube在吸引6至11岁儿童方面，领先于顶级电视频道。”

"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向潜在的公司客户兜售它在儿童中的受欢迎程度，”FTC主席Joe Simons在一份声明中说。“然而，在遵守(联邦法律禁止收集有关儿童的数据)方面，该公司拒绝承认其平台的部分内容明确针对儿童。”

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

纽约总检察长莱蒂蒂娅·詹姆斯说，这些公司“滥用了权力”。

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

詹姆斯说：“谷歌和YouTube明知故犯地非法监控、跟踪并为儿童提供有针对性的广告，目的只是为了继续增加广告收入。”

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.

除了罚款之外，拟议中的和解协议还要求该公司今后不得违法，并通知频道所有者，在收集有关儿童的信息之前，他们有义务征得父母同意。