Amazon saved children’s voices recorded by Alexa even after parents asked for it to be deleted. Now it’s paying a $25 million fine.::“For too long, Amazon has treated children’s sensitive data as its own property,” Josh Golin, executive director of Fairplay, said in a statement.
A penalty should be something you want to avoid. A 25 million (occasional) fine for Amazon is like asking me to pay a .25 (occasional) fine for, say, no parking. It has no deterrence.
On the other hand, a percentual on the profits is a lot more deterrent, expecially for a company. Maybe 25% is too much, I agree, but let’s say a 2-5% of the profits is not that bad.
Note that a fine that is a percentual of your profits (or income) is far more balanced because it hurts the small and the big company the same way.