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Re:FCC fines largest wireless carriers for sharing location ... by ethbr1 on Monday April 29, 2024 @05:09PM (#40204166)
The amount is not the point. It's the fact that they were fined.

Shareholders tend to be unhappy with "We were fined for doing this, and so we kept doing it and now owe another fine."

Also, exec bodies/courts/juries tend to be more skeptical of an ignorance defense if a company was literally fined for doing that exact thing previously.

Re:FCC fines largest wireless carriers for sharing location ... by NickC25 on Monday April 29, 2024 @05:23PM (#40204300)
Shareholders also don't care if the behavior continues so long as the profits from the behavior continue to vastly outweigh the cost of the activity in question.

If the fine is $ABC, and that fine never changes, but profits grow from $ABC x3 to $ABC x10, shareholders will actually get mad that the corporation doesn't continue the activity in question because there's net profit growth.

Sadly, sometimes the cost of quelling an FCC or SEC violation charge is simple "lobbying".

Re:FCC fines largest wireless carriers for sharing location ... by ethbr1 on Monday April 29, 2024 @09:40PM (#40206386)
The business community seems pretty upset by the penalties the SEC has been levying lately...

https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/the-supreme-court-...

(The Supreme Court declined to hear the case)

Re:FCC fines largest wireless carriers for sharing location ... by dchftcs on Tuesday April 30, 2024 @08:06AM (#40210096)
To be fair, they are not mutually exclusive. Businesses are incentivized to fight penalties as long as they think the legal costs are small enough compared to the fines themselves, regardless whether the activity their fine on was still profitable after the fine.
Re:FCC fines largest wireless carriers for sharing location ... by r00fus on Monday April 29, 2024 @05:20PM (#40204265)
What if the pitch were "we made $10x selling this data and were fined $x" - seems quite compelling if you're amoral about it.
Re:FCC fines largest wireless carriers for sharing location ... by genocidicbunny on Monday April 29, 2024 @05:26PM (#40204326)
> Shareholders tend to be unhappy with "We were fined for doing this, and so we kept doing it and now owe another fine."

Only if the fine exceeds what they made. Otherwise, shareholders tend to more side with the "try to keep that shit on the down low next time eh?" approach when they're still making money.

Re:FCC fines largest wireless carriers for sharing location ... by pavon on Monday April 29, 2024 @06:04PM (#40204663)
> that exact thing previously.

Yes, it stops them from doing that exact same thing again while incentivizing the general behavior of intentionally breaking laws until told to stop.

Re:FCC fines largest wireless carriers for sharing location ... by dangus on Monday April 29, 2024 @05:16PM (#40204228)
Shareholders don’t care about that.

“We were fined $20 million for something that makes us $200 million” is a no brainer choice to a shareholder.

And the probability of getting that fine imposed is far less than 1.

https://www.npr.org/2024/04/01/1197963517/dupont-chemours-ch...

Re:FCC fines largest wireless carriers for sharing location ... by teh_infallible on Monday April 29, 2024 @05:20PM (#40204268)
This is a bribe masquerading as a fine.