1y ago

T-Mobile, Verizon, Sprint, AT&T fined $200m by FCC over illegal location-data sharing

www.theguardian.com

Top US mobile carriers fined $200m by FCC over illegal location-data sharing

T-Mobile, Verizon, Sprint and ATT say they will appeal against ‘excessive’ fines meted out by US regulator

The Federal Communications Commission on Monday fined the largest US wireless carriers nearly $200m for illegally sharing access to customers’ location information.

The FCC is finalizing fines first proposed in February 2020, including $80m for T-Mobile; $12m for Sprint, which T-Mobile has since acquired; $57m for ATT, and nearly $47m for Verizon.

The carriers sold “real-time location information to data aggregators, allowing this highly sensitive data to wind up in the hands of bail-bond companies, bounty hunters, and other shady actors”, the FCC chair Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement.

14 comments

What an insultingly light slap on the fucking wrist.
- It’s ok the companies are appealing
  
  Sigh
- Hey now. The police need to buy that data to avoid the hassle of getting a warrant. Can’t make it too expensive.
When will those affected be receiving some of that
- Hahahahahahahahagagagahahahahahahahahahahahahahahha. Uuuuhhhhhggggggg. Aaaaahahahahahahahahahahaaaa
- Nope. More small arms for Israel.
  
  Damn the FCC forsending guns to Israel!
It should be 10k per user effected minimum.
So, the phone bill is going up to pay this, right?
How come the FCC gets millions while the company customers get a year of credit monitoring?
Excessive? This is a slap on the wrist.
- A very gentle, soft, playful slap.on the wrist. The court is letting them know it's OK to do as long as they pay a small tax on it if they are caught. Definitely still worth it.
But remember kids, it was TikTok that was the problem.