FCC Fines AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon $200 Million for Illegally Sharing Location Data

WhistleOut fast facts

The FCC fined the nation's largest carriers $200 million for illegal location data sharing.
T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon will each pay a portion of the fine.
These carriers sold real-time location information to data aggregators, who then granted access to bail-bond companies, bounty hunters, and other shady actors.
The order finalizes fines initially levied against the carriers in February 2020.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has levied a $200 million fine against the nation's largest wireless carriers for illegally sharing customers' location information.

T-Mobile was fined more than $92 million (including a $12 million fine against Sprint)
AT&T was fined more than $57 million
Verizon was fined almost $47 million

These carriers sold real-time location data to third-party data aggregators, which then resold access to the data to other individuals and companies. The FCC claims that by doing this, these carriers violated the Communications Act and allowed the sharing of private data without customer consent.

During its investigation, the FCC found real-time location data was accessed by bail bond companies, bounty hunters, and other shady actors. Additionally, T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon continued selling customer location data for months after they were informed aggregators were selling unauthorized access and violating customer privacy rights.

How shady actors accessed location data

In 2018, a series of articles from outlets like the New York Times and Vice reported that private customer cell phone location data was getting into the hands of third-party entities. This included bail bond companies, bounty hunters, and unauthorized access by law enforcement agencies.

Further investigation showed that real-time location data was being sold to third-party data aggregators by carriers like AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile. This data would normally be used for things like roadside assistance, emergency responses, and fraud detection. Instead, the aggregators resold access to virtually anyone willing to pay without obtaining customer consent or confirming that accessors had legal justification to use the data.

The Communications Act protects a customer's private data, including real-time location information. The FCC stated that these carriers violated customer consent by selling location data to aggregators that allowed access by unauthorized parties. Central to the FCC's case is that AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon allowed this practice to continue for months after they were informed in 2018 that the illegal access was occurring. It was early 2019 before carriers finally terminated their agreements with the aggregator companies.

Does this impact current customers?

Current customers and their data are safe. While the fine was levied April 29, 2024, the illegal data access occurred in 2018 and 2019. T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon have all ended their contracts with those aggregators, so that kind of unauthorized use is no longer occurring.

All three carriers have also stated they intend to challenge the fine by claiming that they were not responsible for the actions of third-party contractors. The FCC countered in its statement saying that privacy obligations apply equally when carriers share customer information with third parties.

Protect your data

Even though the old method used by bad actors to access your data no longer exists, you should still take steps to protect your data. For cell phones, you should ensure you follow the proper steps to share your location on devices and only use trustworthy location sharing apps.

For your internet service, one of the best methods to protect your data is by using a Virtual Private Network (VPN). These services allow you to protect your online activity via a private environment within your internet connection. You can use a VPN to encrypt your data, avoid IP tracking, protect sensitive online information, and access location-blocked content.

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Max McCaskill

Sr. Staff Writer

Max is a Senior Staff Writer at WhistleOut, specializing in mobile plans, operating systems, and carrier news. He regularly tests and reviews dozens of phone plans firsthand, evaluating real-world data speeds, coverage reliability, and plan features. He's been featured in publications such as Yahoo Finance, AARP, AP News, and GoBankingRates.

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