US Wireless Carriers Fined for Selling Customer Location Data in 2019

In 2019, the major carriers in the country faced allegations of selling its customers’ location data without their consent. Years later, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has finally reached a decision by fining these companies. 

According to the investigation, the government entity deemed that the carriers sold “access to its customers’ location information to ‘aggregators.’” These companies then sold the data to third-party location-based service providers. Through this, credit card companies, law enforcement agencies, and bounty hunters gained access to customers’ location data. Even though the issue was raised, the carriers continued the practice. 

The FCC has implemented a fine to the carriers, which varied based on several factors. T-Mobile has the highest fine at $80 million, followed by AT&T with $57 million. Verizon also faces a $47 million fine along with Sprint, which has a fine of $12 million. 

Source: The Verge