Microsoft acknowledged it “did not meet customer expectations” and said it has already made changes in the Xbox account verification process for kids under 13 as part of the FTC settlement.

  • Magusbear
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    1 year ago

    Probably made more money from that data than the fine they had to pay. For them that’s the cost of doing business and not a fine.

    • dirtmayor@beehaw.orgOP
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      1 year ago

      I imagine the formula goes something like:

      Take the number of vehicles Xboxes in the field, A, multiply by the probable rate of failure outraged parents, B, multiply by the average out-of-court settlement FTC fine, C. A times B times C equals X. If X is less than the cost of a recall not gathering data, we don’t do one gather the data.

      I’m sure they’re really sorry though /s

    • ApexHunter
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      1 year ago

      They made no money from this.

      This surrounds data retained from abandoned account creations. The other issue is that they didn’t involve parents soon enough in the signup process. So if a parent objected the account creation would have been abandoned sooner (but still abandoned).

      Microsoft doesn’t make money unless you can actually sign in.