MediaPost

Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile Appeal FCC Fines Over Location Privacy

In 2024, the Federal Communications Commission ordered Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile to pay nearly $200 million total for sharing customers' location data. The FCC fined AT&T around $57 million, Verizon around $47 million, and T-Mobile $92 million (including $12 million for Sprint, which merged with T-Mobile in 2020). The companies, which paid the fines under protest, now want appellate courts to reverse the FCC's ruling. “The Commission’s forfeiture order is unconstitutional, inconsistent with the limitations of the Communications Act, and arbitrary and capricious,” AT&T writes in

Broadband Providers Battle FCC Over New Data Breach Rules

Broadband industry groups are asking a federal appeals court to scuttle the Federal Communications Commission's new disclosure obligations on telecommunications companies that suffer data breaches. The agency specifically required companies to notify consumers, federal law enforcement agencies and the agency about all breaches—even “inadvertent” ones—that expose personally identifiable information, including sensitive financial information. The broadband lobbying groups argue that Congress stripped the FCC of authority to issue the new regulations.