AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile fined $200 million by FCC for sharing user location data without consent

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) fined the nation’s four largest mobile carriers a total of $200 million after concluding an investigation that found the companies shared illegal access to data from ‘location of customers, the agency said on Monday.

T-Mobile received the largest fine of $80 million, along with a $12 million fine for its subsidiary, Sprint, which the company acquired in 2020. AT&T was fined more than $57 million dollars and Verizon was fined nearly $7 million, according to the agency’s announcement. .

The fines follow the FCC’s initial allegations in 2020 under the Trump administration of wireless carriers breaking the law by failing to protect users’ location data.

Mobile phone operators rejected the allegations and said they intend to appeal the fine.

The FCC said the agency’s Office of Enforcement investigation into the carriers found that each of them sold access to their customers’ location information to “aggregators” who then resold access to information from third-party location-based service providers.

The FCC said the carriers “attempted to offload” their obligation to obtain customer consent to others, resulting in them failing to obtain customer consent.

Mobile phone carriers are required by law to take reasonable steps to protect certain customer information, including location information, according to the FCC.

The FCC said the “initial failure” was compounded when carriers continued to sell access to location information without taking reasonable steps to protect it after being told the safeguards were ineffective.

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

“As we resolve these cases, which were first brought forward by the last administration, the Commission remains committed to holding all carriers accountable and ensuring that they meet their obligations to their customers as stewards of these more private data,” he added.

All fined mobile phone operators said they intend to appeal the decision.

“The FCC’s order lacks legal and factual merit. It unfairly holds us responsible for another company’s violation of our contractual requirements to obtain consent, ignores the immediate steps we took to address its failures company and perversely punishes us for supporting life-saving location services like emergency medical alerts and roadside assistance that the FCC previously encouraged. We expect to appeal the 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 aggregator location-based services program was discontinued more than five years ago after we took steps to ensure that critical services such as roadside assistance, fraud protection and emergency response would not be disrupted.We take our responsibility to keep customer data secure and have always supported the FCC’s commitment to protecting consumers, but this decision is wrong and the fine is excessive. We intend to challenge it,” the spokesman said.

A Verizon spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Hill, but told CNN in a statement that it also intends to challenge the agency’s order.

“When a bad actor gained unauthorized access to information related to a very small number of customers, we quickly and proactively cut off the fraudster, shut down the program, and worked to ensure this would not happen again. Unfortunately, the The FCC’s order is wrong on both the facts and the law, and we plan to appeal this decision,” Verizon said, according to CNN.