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FTC fines Razer for every cent made selling bogus “N95 grade” RGB masks
(arstechnica.com)
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this post was submitted on 01 May 2024
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I feel like this is the first time I've EVER heard of a fine being "all the profits you made from the fraud." Is this for real? Why the hell is it Razer, of all companies, that's getting a proper punishment?
It says revenue, not profit, so even better.
Here in Australia it's standard practice to use "how much profit did you make" as the basis for a fine against a corporation.
Except we normally multiply that number by 3x or 5x in order to make it properly punitive.
The upside is companies tend to obey the law. The downside is every now and then an honest mistake ends in bankruptcy. And in fact, most people fined are making a mistake, because why would any corporation take on that much risk intentionally?
I'm OK with all the fines being a bit unfair. If you're incompetent then GTFO of the market and allow someone who does a better job to replace you.
In the US companies will knowingly do shitty things and break established rules and laws if they feel the profit will outweigh the resulting fines. It happens all the time.
Sometimes they will just have people killed too and face zero repercussions.
It's the cost of doing business. Hell, if I could rob a bank for 10 million dollars, and the fine was a million dollars (or 9 million), I'd probably do it too!
If the cost for breaking the law is a set amount, it technically only affects poor people. There's a rich guy in Bergen, Norway who received more than 50 parking fines in less than a year, because for him, the fine is the parking cost. It would be like I'd pay 1 cent for parking wherever I want. I wish the government would be able to take away his driver's license for this. He's also blocked trans from being able to continue their drive. Fucking asshole.
That's not a downside, that's consequences of their mistakes. If they're not caught, honest mistake or not, they're not giving it back to the community.