April 29, 2024 By Sergiu Gatlan
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has fined the largest U.S. wireless carriers almost $200 million for sharing their customers' real-time location data without their consent.
FCC's forfeiture orders finalize Notices of Apparent Liability (NAL) issued against AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon in February 2020.
The fines imposed on Monday include $12 million for Sprint and $80 million for T-Mobile (the two carriers have merged since the investigation began), more than $57 million for AT&T, and an almost $47 million fine for Verizon.
An investigation was launched after reports that the largest American wireless carriers disclosed customers' location information to a Missouri Sheriff through Securus' "location-finding service" without consent or legal authorization.
