FCC To Dole Out Some Dainty Wrist Slaps For Wireless Carrier Location Data Scandals

FCC To Dole Out Some Dainty Wrist Slaps For Wireless Carrier Location Data Scandals

4 years ago
Anonymous $9CO2RSACsf

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20200227/13214143995/fcc-to-dole-out-some-dainty-wrist-slaps-wireless-carrier-location-data-scandals.shtml

As you know by now, all four major wireless carriers have been selling access to user location data for the better part of the last decade to pretty much any nitwit with a nickel. Journalists subsequently exposed how nobody was really policing the use of this data, resulting in it being abused by law enforcement, people pretending to be law enforcement, and even stalkers. Worse perhaps, wireless carriers were even selling access to even more sensitive 911 emergency location data, something that's very clearly prohibited.

It's that last bit that probably finally forced the hand of Ajit "what broadband competition problem" Pai, who after a year of doing nothing is poised to announced that AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint are likely to soon face a collective $200 million fine (warning: WSJ paywall):