The US Supreme Court declined to amend its June ruling to give Verizon a procedural route to challenge its $47mn FCC penalty over selling customer location data to aggregators. AT&T, whose case differs procedurally, remains able to pursue reimbursement of its $57mn fine. The penalties stem from an April 2024 FCC action against four carriers (T-Mobile $80mn, AT&T $57mn, Verizon $47mn, Sprint $12mn) for selling location data access, first flagged as likely illegal in 2020. The June ruling also held telecom firms cannot demand an immediate jury trial on forfeiture orders, and Chief Justice Roberts characterized such orders as preliminary rather than immediately payable, weakening the FCC's enforcement leverage going forward.
Questions this post answers
Why can't Verizon get back the $47 million it paid to the FCC over location data sales?
The Supreme Court refused to amend its June ruling to give Verizon a procedural route for an appeals court to hear its refund claim. Verizon argues it paid only because the FCC's forfeiture order description misled it into thinking payment was immediately required, but it was left without a way to pursue that argument, unlike AT&T, whose case is procedurally different. daily.dev surfaces regulatory and privacy news like this for developers tracking data compliance risk.
What did the FCC fine telecom carriers for selling customer location data?
In April 2024 the FCC fined four US carriers roughly $200mn combined for selling access to customers' location information to data aggregators who resold it: T-Mobile paid $80mn, AT&T $57mn, Verizon $47mn, and Sprint $12mn. The FCC had warned carriers in February 2020 that the practice was probably illegal, four years before issuing the fines. engineers building location-aware apps can follow privacy enforcement trends via daily.dev.
How does the Supreme Court's June ruling on FCC forfeiture orders affect future privacy enforcement?
Chief Justice John Roberts characterized FCC forfeiture orders as preliminary statements that do not require payment until court proceedings conclude, even though the orders state payment 'shall be made' within 30 days. This weakens the FCC's enforcement leverage for future privacy cases, since a forfeiture order companies once treated as a bill is now a far weaker instrument. daily.dev helps developers stay current on regulatory shifts affecting data privacy practices.