EPIC Joins Amicus Brief Urging SCOTUS to Hold Wireless Carriers Accountable for Selling Customers’ Location Data

EPIC joined two former FCC chairs and five other consumer advocacy groups in an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court on March 27 in consolidated cases regarding the FCC’s ability to hold wireless carriers accountable for selling customers’ location data without proper safeguards and other violations of consumer privacy rights. 

Democracy Forward submitted the brief in FCC v. Verizon and AT&T v. FCC on behalf of former FCC Chairs Reed Hundt and Tom Wheeler, as well as the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, Consumer Reports, the National Consumer Law Center, the National Consumers League, Public Knowledge, and EPIC. 

The cases consider whether the FCC can impose penalties to protect consumers’ rights. They were filed in response to financial penalties issued to four major wireless carriers in 2020 for apparently selling access to their customers’ location information without taking reasonable measures to protect customers’ sensitive location information. 

An FCC investigation found that the carriers failed to protect their customers, which Verizon and AT&T appealed in court. 

“Given the availability of the very thing the carriers complain is missing here—a jury trial—the carriers’ challenge has lost its signal,” the brief notes. “Most notably, the carriers do not deny their wrongdoing here.” 

The Telecommunications Act of 1996 requires telecommunications carriers to protect the confidentiality of certain customer data, including location information. The FCC’s rules are clear: Carriers must take reasonable measures to protect against data breaches.  

“Consumers do not sign away their privacy when they sign up for wireless service, which is a crucial lifeline in modern society,” said former FCC Chair Tom Wheeler. “The FCC acted appropriately when they issued these penalties. I am proud to join this brief, and urge the Court to respect the privacy protections Congress put in place.”