Microsoft seems to have learned its lesson after a $20 million fine

Microsoft seems to have learned its lesson after a $20 million fine. In the contemporary digital landscape, information security is a growing concern for all, including the youngest in our society. With the proliferation of technology, children are progressively vulnerable to data collection threats. Over the past few years, several prominent firms, spanning social media networks, operating systems, and video-sharing platforms, have faced accusations of harvesting children's information without parental approval. One recent incident saw Microsoft slapped with a $20 million penalty for illegal data gathering via its Xbox consoles.

Microsoft has found itself in the crosshairs of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), being hit with a hefty $20 million fine for breaching online privacy rules designed to protect children. The violation revolved around Microsoft's unauthorized collection of personal details from children under the age of 13 without securing parental consent. The FTC's investigation revealed that Microsoft had collected names, email addresses, birthdates, gamertags, gamer scores, and Xbox Live activity histories without appropriate authorization.

This personal data was then used by the company to trace children's gaming habits, direct ads towards them, and sell their data to third-party companies. Microsoft has since responded to this ruling with a post on the official Xbox blog. They expressed regret for not meeting customer expectations and pledged to adhere to the FTC order to enhance their safety measures. The company stated:

Microsoft seems to have learned its lesson after a $20 million fine

"We recently struck a settlement with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to rectify our account creation process and rectify a data retention issue found in our system. Sadly, we fell short of customer expectations, and we're committed to complying with the order to continue upgrading our safety measures. We believe we can and should do more, and we'll maintain our commitment to safety, privacy, and security for our community."

"In the course of the investigation, we identified a technical glitch where our systems didn't erase account creation data for child accounts when the account creation process was initiated but not completed. This was in violation of our policy to store such information for only 14 days to facilitate gamers to resume the process. Our engineering team acted swiftly: we rectified the glitch, purged the data, and established measures to prevent the mistake from repeating. The data was never used, shared, or monetized."

From all appearances, Microsoft seems to have addressed this issue, bolstered by the "highly convincing" statement and the sizable $20 million fine. Microsoft seems to have learned its lesson after a $20 million fine.

The Honor 90 Lite 5G model shows its face once againMobile