Google recently fell into hot water when it bypassed the privacy settings for people using Apple's Safari web browser.

Now the investigations into exactly what was going on behind the scenes could keep the company tied up in court cases for years, reports the Wall Street Journal.

The issue was that Google was using special code to install tracking software, or "cookies" on people's devices regardless of if they had decided to allow it or not.

The Federal Trade Commission is set to receive $16,000 per violation per day, and with millions of users affected, the fine could shoot through the roof pretty quickly.