Ajit Pai, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, said on Friday that telecom regulators are planning to take action against wireless operators who are not authorized to sell their users' real-time location data.
In May 2018, the FCC cited a report saying that it had found a website vulnerability, which may cause the location of mobile phone users to be tracked. The FCC is investigating this. In a letter to Congress on Friday, Pai said the FCC "has come to the conclusion that one or more wireless operators are in clear violation of federal law.".
On Friday, FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said it took the FCC a long time to act on what she called a report that "secret intermediaries can sell your location based on your wireless phone data," which was "regrettable.". "It's creepy to think about what the black market can do with that data," she added. "
At & T and Sprint declined to comment. Verizon and T-Mobile (TMUS. O) did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
"After hearing allegations of data abuse, operators quickly launched an investigation, suspended data access, and then terminated these procedures," a trade group representing U.S. wireless operators said on Friday. "
Last year, lawmakers expressed outrage at the ability of aggregators to buy user data from wireless operators and "sell location-based services to a wide variety of companies" and the availability of such data to commission agents.
Pai said he would soon send a formal notice to the five member FCC Committee on the responsibilities of these operators.
In 2018, a security researcher said that without the consent of At & T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile mobile users, the technology of a California technology company could be used to track the location information of these users.
In 2018, U.S. Senator Ron Wyden told the FCC that wireless operators "sell customer location data to a dark prison phone company" so that prison guards can track American cell phones. On Friday, he said he was "keen to see whether the FCC will really hold these wireless companies to account or slap them in the face.". "
