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FCC fines largest wireless carriers for sharing location data

docs.fcc.gov

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Re: FCC fines largest wireless carriers for sharing location data

#101

Post by r00fus »

ethbr1 wrote: post #87
xyst wrote: post #78

$200M is chump change. These carriers have been doing this for a long time. Nothing will change. At most, a footnote in the privacy policy will be added.

The amount is not the point. It's the fact that they were fined. Shareholders tend to be unhappy with "We were fined for doing this, and so we kept doing it and now owe another fine." Also, exec bodies/courts/juries tend to be more skeptical of an ignorance defense if a company was literally fined for doing that exact thing previously.

What if the pitch were "we made $10x selling this data and were fined $x" - seems quite compelling if you're amoral about it.

Re: FCC fines largest wireless carriers for sharing location data

#102

Post by teh_infallible »

ethbr1 wrote: post #87
xyst wrote: post #78

$200M is chump change. These carriers have been doing this for a long time. Nothing will change. At most, a footnote in the privacy policy will be added.

The amount is not the point. It's the fact that they were fined. Shareholders tend to be unhappy with "We were fined for doing this, and so we kept doing it and now owe another fine." Also, exec bodies/courts/juries tend to be more skeptical of an ignorance defense if a company was literally fined for doing that exact thing previously.

This is a bribe masquerading as a fine.

Re: FCC fines largest wireless carriers for sharing location data

#103

Post by NickC25 »

ethbr1 wrote: post #87
xyst wrote: post #78

$200M is chump change. These carriers have been doing this for a long time. Nothing will change. At most, a footnote in the privacy policy will be added.

The amount is not the point. It's the fact that they were fined. Shareholders tend to be unhappy with "We were fined for doing this, and so we kept doing it and now owe another fine." Also, exec bodies/courts/juries tend to be more skeptical of an ignorance defense if a company was literally fined for doing that exact thing previously.

Shareholders also don't care if the behavior continues so long as the profits from the behavior continue to vastly outweigh the cost of the activity in question.

If the fine is $ABC, and that fine never changes, but profits grow from $ABC x3 to $ABC x10, shareholders will actually get mad that the corporation doesn't continue the activity in question because there's net profit growth.

Sadly, sometimes the cost of quelling an FCC or SEC violation charge is simple "lobbying".

Re: FCC fines largest wireless carriers for sharing location data

#105

Post by JumpCrisscross »

tithe wrote: post #18
uptown wrote: post #9

Sprint - $12 million fine (In 2019, Sprint Corporation's revenue amounted to 33.6 billion U.S. dollars) T-Mobile – $80 million fine (T-Mobile US annual revenue for 2021 was $80.118B) AT&T - $57 million fine (AT&T revenue for the twelve months ending March 31, 2024 was $122.317B) Verizon - $47 million fine (Verizon annual revenue for 2023 was $133.974B)

Sprint - 0.0003 of revenue T-Mobile - 0.0009 of revenue AT&T - 0.0004 of revenue Verizon - 0.0003 of revenue

The relevant denominator is the revenue from these data sales.

Re: FCC fines largest wireless carriers for sharing location data

#106

Post by genocidicbunny »

ethbr1 wrote: post #87
xyst wrote: post #78

$200M is chump change. These carriers have been doing this for a long time. Nothing will change. At most, a footnote in the privacy policy will be added.

The amount is not the point. It's the fact that they were fined. Shareholders tend to be unhappy with "We were fined for doing this, and so we kept doing it and now owe another fine." Also, exec bodies/courts/juries tend to be more skeptical of an ignorance defense if a company was literally fined for doing that exact thing previously.

> Shareholders tend to be unhappy with "We were fined for doing this, and so we kept doing it and now owe another fine."

Only if the fine exceeds what they made. Otherwise, shareholders tend to more side with the "try to keep that shit on the down low next time eh?" approach when they're still making money.

Re: FCC fines largest wireless carriers for sharing location data

#107

Post by xnyan »

nimbius wrote: post #95
xyst wrote: post #78

$200M is chump change. These carriers have been doing this for a long time. Nothing will change. At most, a footnote in the privacy policy will be added.

to clarify, this was a third party company called securus that offered a blanket deal to track practically everyone based on a deal they had with cellular companies to purchase tracking data. Securus normally only works with US prisoners. They were collecting data on everyone and then rebranding that capability/relationship as a service. it no longer exists apparently in a hamfisted attempt to avoid more litigation b…

According to AT&T, yes they can get your GPS location. In this article they claim they only do so when the user is making a 911 call, to which I say “yeah right”.

https://www.theverge.com/2022/5/10/23065777/att-route-911-ca...

Re: FCC fines largest wireless carriers for sharing location data

#108

Post by [deleted] »

testfrequency wrote: post #84
tacocataco wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If we did away with First Past The Post voting, we could have more then two sides. Then it could be "my side good, all other sides bad!" Progress.

I’m really hoping before I die citizens are just all collectively against big companies treating citizens like shit, and regardless of a political party, the government works for us and protect us

[deleted]
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