The FCC’s investigation, conducted by its Enforcement Bureau, revealed that the four carriers—AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint—provided access to their customers’ location data to third-party companies known as “aggregators.” These aggregators then resold the location data to other companies, creating a gray market for cell phone subscribers’ historical and real-time location data. In many cases, customers were unaware that their data was being shared and sold, and they had not consented to its use.
The FCC’s action comes on the heels of years of investigations by news organizations that revealed the four carriers were sharing this type of data with law enforcement, bounty hunters, and other organizations. In 2018, The New York Times reported that law enforcement and correction officials across the US were using a company called Securus Technologies to track people’s locations. Securus’ solution relied on “a system typically used by marketers and other companies to get location data from major cell phone carriers.” The following year, a Motherboard investigation revealed that bounty hunters could geo-locate any cell phone customer’s location for as little as $300.
Despite these public reports, the FCC found that the four carriers failed to put safeguards in place to ensure that the location-based service providers with access to their customers’ location information were actually obtaining customer consent. The carriers continued to sell the data, even after it became clear that customers were not aware of or had not consented to the practice.
All four carriers have criticized the FCC’s decision and have indicated that they intend to appeal. T-Mobile spokesperson Tara Darrow said in a statement that the industry-wide third-party aggregator location-based services program was discontinued more than five years ago. Darrow also said that T-Mobile, which merged with Sprint in 2020, will appeal the decision. AT&T spokesperson Alex Byers also said the company will appeal, calling the FCC decision “legally and factually meritless.” Verizon spokesperson Rich Young said that the FCC’s order “gets it wrong on both the facts and the law” and that Verizon plans to appeal the decision.
