AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile hit with $200M FCC fine for sharing user location data without consent   

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has awarded the nation’s four largest carriers a total of $200 million after completing an investigation that found they illegally shared access to customers’ location data. announced on Monday that it had imposed a fine.

T-Mobile received the largest fine of $80 million, and Sprint, a subsidiary it acquired in 2020, was also fined $12 million. AT&T was fined more than $57 million, and Verizon was fined nearly $7 million, the newspaper said. Agency announcement.

The fine follows the FCC’s first complaint in 2020 under the Trump administration, alleging that wireless carriers violated the law by failing to protect users’ location data.

The mobile phone company rejected the allegations and said it intended to contest the fine.

According to the FCC, an investigation into carriers by the agency’s Enforcement Division found that carriers sell access to their customers’ location information to “aggregators,” who in turn sell access to their customers’ location information to third-party location service providers. It was discovered that the items were being resold.

The FCC said the carrier failed to obtain customer consent because it “attempted to offload” the obligation to obtain customer consent to another company.

According to the FCC, mobile carriers are legally required to take reasonable steps to protect certain customer information, including location information.

The FCC found that after carriers realized their security measures were ineffective, they continued to sell access to location information without taking reasonable steps to protect it, resulting in “initial failures.” said it had gotten worse.

“Our communications providers have access to some of the most sensitive information about us. These carriers have failed to protect the information entrusted to them. We’re talking about some of the highest data in the world: the real-time location of our customers, revealing where they go and who they are,” FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement. Stated.

“In resolving these cases, which were first proposed by the previous administration, the Commission continues to hold all carriers accountable and ensure that they fulfill their obligations to their customers as custodians of this most sensitive data. “I will do my best to make this happen,” she added.

All carriers that were fined said they intended to appeal the decision.

“The FCC Order has no legal or factual value. This law makes us unreasonably liable for another company’s violation of our contractual requirements to obtain consent and to address that company’s failures.” It ignores the immediate steps we took to support the FCC’s required emergency medical alerts and roadside assistance, and unfairly penalizes us for supporting lifesaving location-based services such as emergency medical alerts and roadside assistance. We plan to appeal this order after conducting a legal review,” an AT&T spokesperson said in a statement.

A T-Mobile spokesperson also disputed the allegations, calling the fine “excessive.”

“This industry-wide third-party location services program was discontinued more than five years ago after taking steps to ensure critical services such as roadside assistance, fraud prevention, and emergency response remained uninterrupted. We take our responsibility to ensure the safety of customer data very seriously and have always supported the FCC’s efforts to protect consumers, but we believe this decision is wrong and the fine is excessive. We intend to take on that challenge,” the spokesperson said.

A Verizon spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Hill. he told CNN in a statement. He also plans to challenge the agency’s order.

“When a single malicious actor gains unauthorized access to information about a small number of customers, we quickly and proactively block the fraudster, shut down the program, and ensure this never happens again. “Unfortunately, the FCC’s order is wrong both in fact and in law, and we intend to appeal this decision,” Verizon said, CNN reported.