They had initially announced a fine against British Airways of 183M, and reduced it to about 20M.
Marriot's original was 99M, now reduced to 18.4M.
Cathay Pacific was fined... 500K.
In most cases, each fine has been announced as a large amount (presumably for publicity) after which it goes through appeals, tribunals, some private meetings and a substantially reduced fine.
I can only imagine why it keeps ending up this way - is money changing hands during these negotiations? Are the fines kept "low" in order to not scare businesses away from continued laxity?
Yep from $99M to $65M to $18M. From their 2019 annual report:
In July 2019, the ICO issued a formal notice of intent under the U.K. Data Protection Act 2018 proposing a fine in the amount of £99 million against the Company in relation to the Data Security Incident (the “Proposed ICO Fine”). We mutually agreed with the ICO to an extension of the regulatory process until June 1, 2020 and the ICO proceeding is ongoing. In the 2019 second quarter, we recorded an accrual in the full amount of the Proposed ICO Fine for this loss contingency, and in the 2019 fourth quarter, we reduced the accrual to $65 million based on the ongoing proceeding.
The UK has long trodden a fine line between apparent respectability and profiting from borderline criminals. The situation is quite rocky, having lit a larger-than-average covid money bonfire heading into Brexit so these trivial fines will have been ordered from the top to show the ICO is watching, but the UK still welcomes anyone with money so long as they keep their dirty washing out of sight.
They had initially announced a fine against British Airways of 183M, and reduced it to about 20M.
Marriot's original was 99M, now reduced to 18.4M.
Cathay Pacific was fined... 500K.
In most cases, each fine has been announced as a large amount (presumably for publicity) after which it goes through appeals, tribunals, some private meetings and a substantially reduced fine.
I can only imagine why it keeps ending up this way - is money changing hands during these negotiations? Are the fines kept "low" in order to not scare businesses away from continued laxity?