Updates
EPIC, Coalition Amici: Congress Gave FCC Authority to Protect Phone Location Data
January 30, 2025

EPIC, joined by the Center for Democracy and Technology, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, and Public Knowledge filed amicus briefs earlier this month in support of the Federal Communications Commission’s enforcement actions against T-Mobile and Sprint, challenged in the D.C. Circuit, and against Verizon, challenged in the Second Circuit. These enforcement actions were long-awaited measures in the aftermath of Congressional inquiry and media investigations dating back to 2018 and early 2019 showing that the major carriers were failing to oversee how the phone subscriber location data they were making available to data brokers was being abused. AT&T brought a separate challenge to the FCC’s enforcement action in the Fifth Circuit.
In the briefs, EPIC and its coalition partners outlined just how uniquely sensitive and non-voluntary CSLI is. The brief referenced seminal Supreme Court cases focused on location privacy such as Jones, Riley, and Carpenter, and warned the court that letting carriers off the hook here would exacerbate existing perverse incentives, thereby putting subscriber mobile location data at further risk.
EPIC regularly advocates for policies that strengthen data security for consumer information, protecting data from unauthorized access and other misuse.

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