Coalition supports FCC fines on telecoms for privacy violations

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Alexandra Reeve Givens President & CEO at Center for Democracy & Technology | Official website

Coalition supports FCC fines on telecoms for privacy violations

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CDT has collaborated with civil society partners to file two amicus briefs concerning the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) decision to impose fines on Verizon and T-Mobile. The penalties were related to data practices that allegedly breached telecommunications privacy laws.

The FCC concluded that both companies collected geolocation data from customers and sold it to third parties without obtaining customer consent, as required by law. This practice reportedly led some of the data into the hands of bounty hunters.

In these briefs, CDT argues before the courts that "the FCC has ample authority to protect against these harmful data practices," emphasizing that geolocation is "particularly accurate and sensitive information about people" and that its misuse can result in serious harm. The briefs also assert that "the FCC is the proper agency to enforce privacy protections against telecommunications companies."

For further details, refer to the full briefs titled:

T-Mobile v. FCC

Verizon v. FCC

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