Court rejects Verizon claim that selling location data without consent is legal
12 hours ago
- #Privacy
- #FCC
- #Verizon
- Verizon lost its attempt to overturn a $46.9 million fine for selling customer location data without consent.
- The US Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit upheld the FCC's fine, rejecting Verizon's arguments.
- The FCC fined major carriers last year for similar violations, with AT&T winning its case in the 5th Circuit and T-Mobile losing in the DC Circuit.
- The 2nd Circuit ruled that customer location data qualifies as protected information under the Communication Act.
- Verizon argued the fine violated its Seventh Amendment rights, but the court disagreed, noting Verizon had waived its right to a jury trial.
- Verizon's program involved selling location data to aggregators like LocationSmart and Zumigo, which then resold it to third parties.