Another issue is that as a small company you generally lack the resources to effectively contest violations. Google can, and will, drag these things out in cour

Another issue is that as a small company you generally lack the resources to effectively contest violations. Google can, and will, drag these things out in court for years. And ironically for free. Their legal costs are going to be covered by inflation on the fines themselves. 2% inflation on a $1 billion fine reduces it by $20 million a year. And also factor in the interest Google is earning on that $1 billion on top of the 2% 'principal' reduction per year. The whole penalty system is quite silly. The fines destroy small companies who are the ones struggling to comply, and do little more than offer extremely gentle pokes on the wrist for megacorps that have relatively unlimited resources available for complete compliance, if they actually wanted to comply.