Google will pay a historic fine to settle U.S. government charges that it violated privacy laws when it tracked via cookies users of Apple’s Safari browser. The US$22.5 million civil penalty is the largest ever secured by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission for a violation of one of its orders, the FTC said on Thursday. However, ConsumerWatchdog.org finds the settlement inadequate for various reasons, including the amount of the fine and the fact that it allows Google to deny guilt and liability.