Verizon Communications—FCC fined Verizon $46.9M for selling customer real-time location data to third-party aggregators without consent
On April 29, 2024 the Federal Communications Commission announced a $46.9 million fine against Verizon as part of a $200M+ joint enforcement action against the four largest US wireless carriers (AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint) for selling customer real-time location data to third-party aggregators including data brokers, bail bondsmen and bounty hunters without meaningful customer consent. The enforcement followed years of investigation triggered by 2018 reporting by Motherboard and Senator Wyden.
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Consumer Protection | -against | secondary | -0.50 |
| Surveillance Technology | +toward | secondary | -0.50 |
| User Privacy | -against | primary | -1.00 |
| Overall incident score = | -0.443 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (high ×1.5) × confidence (0.59)× agency (reactive ×0.75)
Evidence (1 signal)
FCC announced $46.9M Verizon fine in joint $200M+ action over location-data sales
The FCC's April 29, 2024 enforcement announcement detailed $46.9 million in fines against Verizon as part of $200M+ joint action against the four largest US carriers for selling customer location data to third-party aggregators without meaningful consent.