The Federal Communications Commission has imposed fines totaling nearly $200 million on major US mobile carriers for allegedly sharing customers’ location data without consent.
The FCC discovered that these carriers sold access to location information to third-party service providers through intermediaries, without adequately obtaining customers’ permission.
The fines vary: T-Mobile faces the largest penalty of $80 million, followed by AT&T at around $57 million, Verizon at about $47 million, and Sprint (now part of T-Mobile) at $12 million.
The investigation was prompted by public reports, including coverage by tech journalist Joseph Cox in 2019.
Although plans for fines were set in 2020, final decisions were delayed due to agency deadlock awaiting a fifth commissioner’s confirmation.
In response to the FCC’s action, AT&T’s spokesperson criticized the decision, citing legal and factual flaws and expressing intentions to appeal.
Verizon’s spokesperson emphasized that the issue involved an old program, discontinued years ago, and asserted the FCC’s order as incorrect on both factual and legal grounds, also planning to appeal.
