Why did the FCC punish mobile operators, and what do the companies themselves think about this?
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has fined major U.S. telecommunications companies nearly $ 200 million for distributing customer location data without their consent.
The fines were imposed on AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon after they were issued Notices of Apparent Liability (NAL) in February 2020 for passing on their customers ' location information to third parties. Now the FCC has issued final orders for the confiscation of funds.
Among the fines imposed are $ 12 million for Sprint and $ 80 million for T-Mobile (the two companies merged after the investigation began), more than $ 57 million for AT&T and almost $ 47 million for Verizon.
During the investigation, the Federal Commission found that all four mobile operators sold their customers ' real-time location data to so-called "aggregators" who, in turn, resold it to dozens of third-party service providers. Now, as reported, all operators are tied to such activities.
According to the FCC representative, companies tried to shift the responsibility for obtaining customer consent to the recipients of information, which often led to a lack of proper customer consent. In addition, after realizing the ineffectiveness of security measures, they continued to sell access to information without taking reasonable measures to protect it from unauthorized access.
Under section 222 of the U.S. Communications Act, telecommunications operators in the United States are required to take reasonable steps to protect customer data, such as location information, and to keep this information confidential and obtain customer consent before using or providing access to it.
A Verizon spokesperson said that the company is already "deeply committed to protecting customer privacy" and intends to appeal the FCC's decision, as it, in the company's opinion, is "incorrect both in fact and in law."
AT&T also plans to appeal the decision, pointing out a "lack of legal and factual validity" and accusing the FCC of unfairly punishing it for supporting location-based vital services.
A representative of T-Mobile has not yet commented on the situation.
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has fined major U.S. telecommunications companies nearly $ 200 million for distributing customer location data without their consent.
The fines were imposed on AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon after they were issued Notices of Apparent Liability (NAL) in February 2020 for passing on their customers ' location information to third parties. Now the FCC has issued final orders for the confiscation of funds.
Among the fines imposed are $ 12 million for Sprint and $ 80 million for T-Mobile (the two companies merged after the investigation began), more than $ 57 million for AT&T and almost $ 47 million for Verizon.
During the investigation, the Federal Commission found that all four mobile operators sold their customers ' real-time location data to so-called "aggregators" who, in turn, resold it to dozens of third-party service providers. Now, as reported, all operators are tied to such activities.
According to the FCC representative, companies tried to shift the responsibility for obtaining customer consent to the recipients of information, which often led to a lack of proper customer consent. In addition, after realizing the ineffectiveness of security measures, they continued to sell access to information without taking reasonable measures to protect it from unauthorized access.
Under section 222 of the U.S. Communications Act, telecommunications operators in the United States are required to take reasonable steps to protect customer data, such as location information, and to keep this information confidential and obtain customer consent before using or providing access to it.
A Verizon spokesperson said that the company is already "deeply committed to protecting customer privacy" and intends to appeal the FCC's decision, as it, in the company's opinion, is "incorrect both in fact and in law."
AT&T also plans to appeal the decision, pointing out a "lack of legal and factual validity" and accusing the FCC of unfairly punishing it for supporting location-based vital services.
A representative of T-Mobile has not yet commented on the situation.
