A Federal appeals court has upheld a $92 million fine against T-Mobile for illegally selling customer data to third parties.
The U.S. District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled unanimously that the Federal Communications Commission acted correctly when it penalized T-Mobile and Sprint for selling customer location data.
Judge Florence Pan wrote that telecoms have a clear duty to protect sensitive customer information from misuse by outside companies. The court found that both carriers failed this basic responsibility.
The Privacy Breach That Started It All
The scandal began in 2018 when reports surfaced about a Missouri sheriff tracking a judge using location data purchased from telecom companies.
This abuse prompted the FCC to investigate how major carriers were handling customer information.
The investigation revealed that T-Mobile, Sprint, Verizon, and AT&T all operated programs selling real-time location data to aggregators like LocationSmart and Zumigo. These companies then sold access to dozens of third-party businesses.
Zumigo Website
Since mobile phones constantly connect to cell towers for service, this data could track people’s exact movements in real-time.
Carriers Outsourced Their Responsibilities
The FCC found that telecoms tried to avoid accountability by putting responsibility on third-party buyers through contracts.
However, internal company audits showed these outside companies regularly violated the agreements.
Despite knowing about these violations, the carriers took no meaningful action to stop the abuse of customer data.
Conclusion from U.S. District Court of Appeals (PDF)
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T-Mobile’s Troubled Security History
This location data fine represents just the latest in a series of privacy and security failures for T-Mobile.
The carrier has faced multiple major data breaches affecting millions of customers, including incidents in 2021, 2022, and 2023 that exposed personal information ranging from Social Security numbers to driver’s license data.
These repeated security lapses raise serious questions about T-Mobile’s commitment to protecting customer information.
Final Thoughts
The court’s decision reinforces that telecom companies cannot profit from customer data while ignoring their legal duty to protect it.
While this $92 million fine serves as punishment, affected customers who had their location data sold deserve direct compensation for these privacy violations.
The money should go back to the customers whose personal information was monetized without consent, not just into the government’s black box.
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For more information on this story refer to the legal documentation (PDF), the report from Cyberscoop, and any potential updates from T-Mobile’s website.
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