The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) sent a letter to the US Congress saying that "one or more" major telecom operators were selling customer location data to third-party companies. Due to systematic data leaks, it is proposed to recover about $208 million from several operators.
The report states that back in 2018, the FCC found that some telecom operators provide their customers' location data to third-party companies. The regulator conducted its own investigation, which resulted in a decision on the need for penalties. Thus, T-Mobile could face a fine of $91 million, AT&T could lose $57 million, and Verizon and Sprint could lose $48 million and $12 million, respectively. It is worth noting that the fines have not yet been approved; telecom operators will have the opportunity to appeal the FCC decision.
Let us recall that during the investigation it was established that aggregator services purchased geolocation data of users from telecom operators for the purpose of their further resale. Information about the location of users was purchased by different companies, which is unacceptable according to the FCC. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai commented on this situation, noting that the agency under his control was forced to take drastic measures to protect the data of American consumers.
Last month, telecom operators said they had launched a swift investigation following allegations of misuse of customer data. As a result, programs through which third-party companies could gain access to customer data were closed.
Source: 3dnews.ru