US regulators proposes to fine telecom carriers for selling location data


By MYBRANDBOOK


US regulators proposes to fine telecom carriers for selling location data

US regulators has proposed fines on the nation’s four wireless carriers because of selling location data of customers without their consent. The Federal Communications Commission proposed fining T-Mobile more than USD 91 million; AT&T some USD 57 million; Verizon USD 48 million, and Sprint USD 12 million.

 

The wireless carriers were accused of revealing mobile network user location data to a third party without authorisation from customers, the FCC said.

 

The FCC began an investigation after a report that a sheriff in Missouri used a "location-finding service" operated by a prison communications services company called Securus to track whereabouts of people, including a judge and law enforcement officers.

 

According to regulator, the carriers gave the "aggregators" access to customer location data and then the latter resold the information to services such as Securus, according to the regulator.

 

"American consumers take their wireless phones with them wherever they go," FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said in a release. "And information about a wireless customer's location is highly personal and sensitive."

 

US telecom firms have been on notice for more than a decade that they are required to safeguard location data gathered about users, Pai added.

 

Sizes of the fines were based on how long carriers continued to sell customer location information without proper safeguards and how many parties had access, the FCC said.

 

The telecom companies will get to provide evidence and arguments to the commission before the fines are finalised.

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