Scathing post by Philip Elmer-DeWitt on Apple’s FTC consent decree and $32.5 million settlement on in-app purchases:

Any money that’s not spent — which could, in theory, be millions of dollars — goes to … wait for it … the commission.

So, bottom line, the FTC has hit an Apple trifecta: 1) headlines that paint the government as protectors of parents and children in the digital age, 2) a story in which the FTC gets to play the giant killer, and 3) a novel way to extract millions out of Apple’s coffers — and maybe send some of it directly to the FTC’s.

And, if that’s not enough, the new chairwoman of the FTC who swooped in and demanded the consent decree was a partner at Quinn Emanuel, whose clients included Google and Samsung. In fact, it’s the same firm that leaked information to Samsung on contract agreements between Nokia and Apple.

Weird that the FTC hasn’t taken action against Google when it has exactly the same problem with in-app purchases (via The Loop). Very weird, indeed.