Apple’s $95M Settlement
This Apple Settlement illustrates the reason why big tech keeps steamrolling through the proletariat. $95M for a privacy dispute affecting nearly every Apple user?! That's a joke, especially given the affected must make a claim to collect. History shows that, on average, about 8% of claims for such lawsuits are filed.
Even if, by some miracle, 100% of claims are filed, $95M is less than the rounding error on Apple's taxes. Apple's market cap is something over $3T. They don't care about $95M; it's a drop in the bucket. This settlement is nonsense and lacks any punitive touch. Plaintiffs contended that Apple could be liable for $1.5B if the matter went to trial. I believe even $1.5B is marginal compared to what the ad damnum should be.
When an impoverished man steals a loaf of bread to feed his family, he can face up to 25 years in prison, while Tim Cook can go into your home and invade your privacy for over a decade with impunity. There need to be real penalties for misuse of data and abuse of access. These data and access are given freely under the auspices of reasonable custodianship. When a breach of that trust occurs, the penalties should be severe.
If you read the End User License Agreement (EULA) for any software-based tech product, you will see page-after-page of legalese protecting the developer and distributor. You will see little-to-nothing protecting the user. The fix is simple: add a clause saying something substantially of the form “In the event of a data or privacy breach, the collective users of the software will be entitled to 5% of the average of the vendor’s last 3 years of revenue”. That’s real skin in the game.
For Apple, we would have ‘22, ‘23, ‘24 revenues of $394B, $383B, $391B. This would give us a payout of about $19.4B for a breach of trust such as this. I think this is acceptable, and if it is contractually obligated through EULA, the Court proceedings after a breach would be simplified. If there are no real consequences, the behaviour does not end. By putting a de facto price tag (such as $95M) on such a breach, we are letting companies of sufficient size know they can do whatever they want with limited issue.
We are smarter and stronger than this, America. Stand up and fight.