FCC fines wireless carriers millions for sharing user locations without consent

The US government has fined four top wireless carriers, including AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon, for illegally sharing customers’ personal data without consent. The fines come after an investigation by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 2020 found that the companies had improperly shared users’ geolocation histories with third parties. The carriers shared user location information with data resellers known as ’location aggregators,’ who passed it on to third-party customers. Despite promising to stop the practice, carriers took a significant amount of time to do so. AT&T was fined $57 million, Verizon nearly $47 million, Sprint $12 million, and T-Mobile $80 million. The carriers plan to appeal the decision.