The Federal Communications Commission has imposed a fine of nearly $200 million on the largest US wireless carriers for their unauthorized sharing of customers' location information.
FCC Fines Largest-Wireless Carriers in US
The fines are a result of allegations made by the Federal Communications Commission in 2020. It was claimed that the companies had been sharing users' geolocation histories with third parties, including prisons, as part of their commercial programs.
The fines are aimed at addressing a practice where carriers shared user location information with data resellers, commonly referred to as "location aggregators" in the industry. According to CNN, the data was then shared with third-party customers by these aggregators.
The FCC is in the process of completing fines that were initially proposed in February 2020. These fines include a sum of $80 million for T-Mobile, $12 million for Sprint (which has now been acquired by T-Mobile), $57 million for AT&T, and almost $47 million for Verizon Communications.
According to FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel, the carriers have been selling location information to data aggregators, who then pass it on to questionable entities such as bail-bond companies and bounty hunters.
This raises concerns about the security and privacy of this sensitive data. The wireless carriers have expressed their intention to contest the fines.
Carriers have authorized the use of location-data for various purposes, including roadside assistance, logistics, medical emergency alert services, human trafficking alerts, and fraud prevention.
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Wireless Carriers Address the Issue
Verizon has emphasized its commitment to customer protection. In response to a security breach affecting a limited number of customers, the company swiftly took action by terminating the unauthorized access, discontinuing the program, and implementing measures to prevent similar incidents in the future.
T-Mobile clarified that they discontinued the third-party aggregator location-based services program over five years ago to ensure the uninterrupted provision of critical services such as roadside assistance, fraud protection, and emergency response.
Meanwhile, AT&T strongly disagreed with the order, stating that it had no basis in law or fact.
According to the FCC, carriers trusted that service providers would obtain consent from customers before accessing their location information based on contractual assurances.
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