Several major cellphone carriers, including Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint (now merged), have been fined nearly $200 million in total by federal regulators for unlawfully sharing customers’ location data without consent.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced the fines following investigations revealing that the carriers sold access to customer location data to aggregators, who then sold it to third parties without proper authorization.

FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel criticized the carriers for failing to protect sensitive customer information, highlighting the importance of safeguarding such data against cyber threats.

The carriers attempted to shift responsibility for obtaining consent onto downstream recipients, resulting in many instances where valid customer consent was not obtained.

Despite warnings, all four carriers continued to sell access to location information without implementing adequate protective measures, USA Today has reported.

The FCC emphasized that carriers are legally required to safeguard location information and other confidential customer data unless they have explicit consent to share it.

Company spokespersons from Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile disputed the FCC’s findings, arguing that the fines were unjustified and did not accurately reflect their efforts to address the issue.

Written by B.C. Begley