To close out the month of April the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) quietly imposed a number of fines on the four largest telecommunications and data carriers (AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint) for selling user’s private data without providing written user consent in the contracts and fine print. However, the FCC’s punishment is lightweight at the very best, and some members of the FCC even questioned if these carriers should even be fined in the first place.
In a press release published on April 29th, the FCC explained the ordeal and why they are imposing fines on these companies:
Today, the Federal Communications Commission fined the nation’s largest wireless carriers for illegally sharing access to customers’ location information without consent and without taking reasonable measures to protect that information against unauthorized disclosure. Sprint and T-Mobile – which have merged since the investigation began – face fines of more than $12 million and $80 million, respectively. AT&T is fined more than $57 million, and Verizon is fined almost $47 million.
The FCC Enforcement Bureau investigations of the four carriers found that each carrier sold access to its customers’ location information to “aggregators,” who then resold access to such information to third-party location-based service providers. In doing so, each carrier attempted to offload its obligations to obtain customer consent onto downstream recipients of location information, which in many instances meant that no valid customer consent was obtained. This initial failure was compounded when, after becoming aware that their safeguards were ineffective, the carriers continued to sell access to location information without taking reasonable measures to protect it from unauthorized access.
The investigations that led to today’s fines started following public reports that customers’ location information was being disclosed by the largest American wireless carriers without customer consent or other legal authorization to a Missouri Sheriff through a “location-finding service” operated by Securus, a provider of communications services to correctional facilities, to track the location of numerous individuals. Yet, even after being made aware of this unauthorized access, all four carriers continued to operate their programs without putting in place reasonable safeguards to ensure that the dozens of location-based service providers with access to their customers’ location information were actually obtaining customer consent.
“Our communications providers have access to some of the most sensitive information about us. These carriers failed to protect the information entrusted to them. Here, we are talking about some of the most sensitive data in their possession: customers’ real time location information, revealing where they go and who they are,” said FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. “As we resolve these cases – which were first proposed by the last Administration – the Commission remains committed to holding all carriers accountable and making sure they fulfill their obligations to their customers as stewards of this most private data.”
Though these fines may sound substantial to the average American, they’re really not.
As explained by popular tech YouTuber and right-to-repair advocate Louis Rossman, these companies have been profiting tens of billions of dollars annually. So, in reality, T-Mobile (which now owns Sprint since 2020) was only fined 2.91% of net income for the year; AT&T was fined 0.22% their annual income; and Verizon 0.37%.
Rossman argues this is a “joke,” and says this is basically inviting these companies to repeatedly commit these acts of fraud since these fines are virtually irrelevant to them, especially not even taking into account how much these companies made and stand to continue making by selling American’s personal data.
But even with such a tiny fine, Rossman examined the FCC’s specific filings for each company, and noted that there was dissent at the FCC about whether or not they should even impose a fine of any kind.
Beit so, the carriers argued that the regulation was not clear that they could not sell user’s data, though the FCC ruled that their actions clearly violated section 222 of the Communications Act, in that they are obligated to protect user’s data.
Rossman also argues that in reality the FCC is just fining Americans, contending that these greedy companies will now use this to justify subtly hiking their prices even more to pay for the fees, even if they are relatively miniscule.
AUTHOR COMMENTARY
Psalm 44:12 Thou sellest thy people for nought, and dost not increase thy wealth by their price.
Proverbs 20:14 It is naught, it is naught, saith the buyer: but when he is gone his way, then he boasteth.
None of this is even really surprising anymore. And quite frankly, not that I defend these monopolies in the slightest, but when you factor in the FISA Act, for example, that allows the government to collect all this data for surveillance and “counterterrorism” – where do you suppose they got the data from? In this regard, one hand of the government is imposing fines for companies for selling this data for a price, while another side of the government wrote itself a law to obtain the data voluntarily. That’s the U.S. in a nutshell, and we lose. The government is biting the hand that feeds.
Ecclesiastes 4:5 The fool foldeth his hands together, and eateth his own flesh.
[7] Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? [8] Say I these things as a man? or saith not the law the same also? [9] For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen? [10] Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope. (1 Corinthians 9:7-10).
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More theatre.
Said company (fill in the blank) sells your information to the ‘gubbamint’, customers squawk, ‘gubbamint’ responds by fining, which in turn fills their dwindling coffers, said company adjusts their mysterious ‘fees’ they impose, and when all is said and done, said company has more money than they did before they were ‘fined.’
Basically, both parties are ‘fine’ in the end and customers get squeezed financially a little bit more and you get additional spam calls and e-mails to boot!
The people.will do nothing about this too.