Wireless Carriers Challenge FCC’s $200 Million Location Privacy Fines
Three of the largest wireless carriers are fighting back against Federal Communications Commission (FCC) fines for allegedly selling their customer’s location information without their permission.
Besides T-Mobile, which earlier sued the FCC but has not filed briefs, AT&T filed its brief on Nov. 1, while a Verizon brief was filed on Nov. 4. Verizon claims that the FCC overstepped its authority to enforce statutory consumer data privacy provisions. Both AT&T and Verizon claim that the fines violate their Seventh Amendment right to a jury trial.
The fines, levied in April, are substantial. T-Mobile was fined $80.1 million, while AT&T’s total was $46.9 million. Verizon’s share was $47 million and $12.2 million for its Sprint subsidiary.
During its investigation, which started during the Trump administration, the FCC said that the four carriers sold customer location information to “aggregators,” who resold the data to third-party location-based service providers. The federal agency cited public reports that indicated that a Missouri sheriff used location information, provided by Securus, to track “numerous individuals.”
Both Verizon and AT&T, in their filings, say the FCC over-reached by making the Securus violation the centerpiece of their investigation. Both companies say that the incident happened outside of the fine’s statute of limitations.
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