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Brett Larson has shed light on the significant data leak faced by Facebook, where data from about 267 million users was exposed online. On another front, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has penalized the four largest mobile carriers in the U.S. with a total fine of $200 million for unauthorized data sharing of customer locations. The fine emphasizes the FCC’s dedication to consumer privacy and safeguarding sensitive data.
Breaking down the fines, T-Mobile has the largest fine at $80 million due to the severity of the alleged data breach, with an additional $12 million for its Sprint subsidiary. AT&T has been hit with a hefty fine of more than $57 million, while Verizon must pay $46 million for their alleged participation in the data breach.
The FCC’s enforcement bureau alleges that the carriers sold customer location data access to “aggregators,” who subsequently resold it to third-party service providers. This was done without proper customer consent and violated FCC regulations. The allegations suggest a failure to safeguard user location data.
However, each carrier has indicated their intent to challenge the FCC’s decision, indicating that the order lacks both legal and factual merit. They also highlighted the program was discontinued more than five years ago and stated they took immediate action when they found out a third-party company violated their contractual requirements to obtain consent.
Taking into account the FCC’s actions against unauthorized location data sharing, the expert advises consumers to understand their rights, regularly review privacy policies, manage app permissions, opt out of data sharing, contact their carrier directly if they have concerns and stay proactive in updating device’s security settings. Also, the use of the privacy-focused tool, VPN, is suggested since it can prevent tracking and location identification.
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