Verizon, AT&T Tell Courts: FCC Can't Punish Us for Selling User Location Data
NotSanguine writes:
Ars Technica has a piece about briefs filed by big telecoms AT&T and Verizon claimng that the FCC doesn't have the authority to fine them for selling customer data without consent.
From the article:
Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile are continuing their fight against fines for selling user location data, with two of the big three carriers submitting new court briefs arguing that the Federal Communications Commission can't punish them.
A Verizon brief[PDF] filed on November 4 and an AT&T brief[PDF] on November 1 contest the legal basis for the FCC fines issued in April 2024. T-Mobile also sued the FCC, but briefs haven't been filed yet in that case.
"Verizon's petition for review stems from the multiple and significant errors that the FCC, in purporting to enforce statutory consumer data privacy provisions, made in overstepping its authority," Verizon wrote. "The FCC's Forfeiture Order violated both the Communications Act and the Constitution, while failing to benefit the consumers it purported to protect."
Verizon and AT&T both said the fines violate their Seventh Amendment right to a jury trial, and that the location data doesn't fall under the law cited by the FCC. Verizon appealed to the US Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, while AT&T appealed in the 5th Circuit and T-Mobile appealed in the DC Circuit.
The fines are $80.1 million for T-Mobile, $57.3 million for AT&T, $46.9 million for Verizon, and $12.2 million for T-Mobile subsidiary Sprint. The penalties relate to the 2018 revelation of real-time location data being shared. The FCC proposed the fines in 2020, when the commission had a Republican majority, and the fines were finalized under the current Democratic majority.
So what say you, Soylentils? Are AT&T and Verizon correct in saying that the FCC has no authority to levy fines? Is selling your location data without your consent ethical/legal? If you answer 'no' to both, who does have such authority? If you answer 'yes' to both, why? If you mix 'yes' and 'no', why?
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