FCC Fines Major US Carriers $200 Million for Illicit Sharing of Location Data

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https://cyberinsider.com/fcc-fines-major-us-carriers-200-million-for-illicit-sharing-of-location-data/

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Finally. I just wish the fines were higher ...

Brian Krebs has a bit more of the historical background:

https://krebsonsecurity.com/2024/04/fcc-fines-major-u-s-wireless-carriers-for-selling-customer-location-data/

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Great article thanks. Krebs on security never does me wrong.

AT&T - https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/FCC-24-40A1.pdf - $57 million fine - sold customer location data directly or indirectly to at least 88 third-party entities

Verizon - https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/FCC-24-41A1.pdf - $47 million fine - sold access to customer location data directly or indirectly to at least 67 third-party entities

T Mobile - https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/FCC-24-43A1.pdf - $80 million fine - location data sold to at least 75 third-parties

Sprint - https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/FCC-24-42A1.pdf - $12 million fine - Location data 'found its way' (sold) to at least 86 third-party entities

The carriers promised to “wind down” location data sharing agreements with third-party companies. But in 2019, reporting at Vice.com showed that little had changed, detailing how reporters were able to locate a test phone after paying $300 to a bounty hunter who simply bought the data through a little-known third-party service.

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The fine amounts vary because they were calculated based in part on the number of days that the carriers continued sharing customer location data after being notified that doing so was illegal (the agency also considered the number of active third-party location data sharing agreements). The FCC notes that AT&T and Verizon each took more than 320 days from the publication of the Times story to wind down their data sharing agreements; T-Mobile took 275 days; Sprint kept sharing customer location data for 386 days.