The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is expected to issue a decision today finding that all four mobile wireless carriers violated the Communications Act by selling real time location data of its subscribers to data brokers. The fines are expected to reach somewhere in the neighborhood of $200 million. The sale of this location data was first reported by Vice Motherboard in March 2018 and despite the carriers’ denials, they were still engaging in this practice in January 2019.

The following statement should be attributed to Gigi Sohn:

Americans deserve better than an FCC that has to be dragged kicking and screaming to punish national mobile wireless carriers for engaging in practices that threaten their privacy and security. It took the Trump FCC nearly two years to resolve this matter and it only did so because of intense scrutiny by members of Congress and the public. During that time, mobile wireless carriers blithely sold their customers’ real time location information to data brokers who then turned around and sold them to people like bounty hunters, who are in the business of finding people who don’t want to be found, like domestic violence victims. To make matters worse, the carriers  lied about continuing the practice.

In 2016, the Wheeler FCC adopted rules that would have prevented most mobile phone users from suffering this gross violation of privacy and security. But Chairman Pai and his friends in Congress eliminated those rules, because allegedly the burden on mobile wireless providers and their fixed broadband brethren would be too great. Clearly, they did not think for one minute about the harm that could befall consumers in the absence of strong privacy protections.

The importance of having rules that protect consumers before they are harmed cannot be overstated. This FCC abdicated its authority over broadband Internet access when it repealed the 2015 Open Internet Order and purported to “give back” privacy oversight to the Federal Trade Commission, which it believed to be better suited to oversee the privacy practices of fixed and mobile broadband providers. What has the FTC done? It sent a letter to broadband providers seeking their privacy policies and practices nearly a year ago, and nothing has happened since.  

The FCC should move expeditiously to reinstate privacy rules that would protect both mobile phone and broadband Internet users. The harm has been proven and the agency must act.

Gigi Sohn is a Distinguished Fellow at the Georgetown Institute for Technology Law and Policy and a Benton Senior Fellow and Public Advocate. She served as Counselor to Former FCC Chairman from November 2013-December 2016.  While at the FCC, she worked on the 2016 Broadband Privacy Rules. She can be reached at 202-253-0876.