Federal Court Upholds FCC's $46.9M Fine Against Verizon over Data Mishandling
A federal appeals court upheld the FCC's $46.9 million fine against Verizon for the illegal sharing of customer location data. Verizon challenged the decision, but the court ruled the data met proprietary information criteria. Larger fines targeted multiple carriers for similar mishandling of sensitive customer data.
A federal appeals court confirmed on Wednesday the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) $46.9 million fine imposed on Verizon Communications for unlawful access sharing of customer location data.
A three-judge panel dismissed Verizon's claims, affirming that the data represented customer proprietary network information. The penalties are part of an April 2024 crackdown resulting in nearly $200 million in fines on major U.S. carriers for data mishandling.
FCC officials criticized carriers for facilitating the sale of real-time location data to aggregators, compromising user privacy. While carriers promised improvements, lawmakers remain concerned about the oversight and commercial deals involving sensitive data sales.
(With inputs from agencies.)
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