FCC Commissioner Demands Answers From Telcos on Phone Location Data (vice.com) 47
On Wednesday, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel demanded answers from AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, and Verizon on their sale of customers' phone location information to data aggregators. From a report: As Motherboard has shown in multiple investigations, this data, which sometimes included highly precise assisted-GPS data, ended up in the hands of bounty hunters, bail bondsmen, or private investigators. The demands are the latest move to pressure telecom companies, who said they would stop the sale of location data to third parties after Motherboard's coverage. AT&T and T-Mobile previously told Motherboard that sale has ended, and Sprint said it would stop at the end of May. But there are still serious concerns about how that data may have been stored and accessed. The letters from Commissioner Rosenworcel to the heads of each telco asked that the companies clarify whether data aggregators or others were allowed to save phone location data they received, and what steps the telcos are going to take to ensure the deletion of any shared data.
Everything is for sale (Score:5, Insightful)
When you're a company ( such as AT&T ) who is ~$170B in debt, everything is for sale.
Unless someone with the authority to do so steps in and says " No ", I would think just about everything has a price tag associated with it.
Obvious troll wasn't obvious? (Score:2)
I guess the world's most obvious troll / sarcasm wasn't obvious to you.
Re: (Score:2)
ATT spent $8B in interest in 2018. They made $20B in profit. So, maybe, they'll have all the debt paid off in 8 years with only 1.25B in retained profit a year over those 8 years. That's not panic worthy at all.
And, considering a big portion of that debt was spent acquiring companies in the middle of 2018, revenue should rise pretty well. My guess is paying off the debt is 5 years out.
Re: (Score:2)
Doubtful they will pay it off. It's quite normal for most large companies to have debt...
https://www.investopedia.com/a... [investopedia.com]
One does not simply (Score:2)
... unshare shared data.
For the record (Score:5, Interesting)
It's worth noting that Commissioner Rosenworcel is one of the Democratic members of the FCC.
Just in case you're still pretending that both parties are the same.
Re: (Score:1, Funny)
Ratzo, I'm not sure why anyone should care what you have to say since it's never going to be a mystery.
Like, would you care what a "scientist" has to say if it becomes clear that he will never ever under any circumstances for any reason ever retract a paper or admit that he was wrong?
I've never seen you post anything that wasn't blatant leftist shilling unless it was an anti-religious hateful screed.
But even worse: you rarely if ever have anything to say that wasn't blindingly obvious anyway.
Take this post
Re: (Score:1)
Political tribalism is what the racist mind turns to when what they really want to do has fallen out of fashion.
Re: (Score:2)
It's worth noting that Commissioner Rosenworcel is one of the Democratic members of the FCC.
Just in case you're still pretending that both parties are the same.
It's worth noting that Commissioner Rosenworcel is one of the Democratic members of the FCC.
Just in case you're still pretending that both parties are the same.
Political tribalism is what the racist mind turns to when what they really want to do has fallen out of fashion. https://ilmahkids.co.uk/ [ilmahkids.co.uk]
Where's the head of FCC? (Score:2)
So Ajit Pai is AWOL, gotta keep those job opportunities open...
Re: (Score:2)
He's PAID to be AWOL lol. This is the Drumpf administration - if you're doing the job, you're pissing off the boss and disobeying orders.
Re: (Score:1, Informative)
Ajit Pai was actually located later....he had been under the office desk of the AT&T chairman passed out with a stomachful of semen.
He's okay now though and recovering at home, thank god.
Yes yes (Score:2)
And a stern talking too from the whatevercommitee for random bullshit will certainly follow. Whooptey-fkn-doo.
I enjoy the stern fingerwigglings and zinger questions when we get to see them as much as the next guy, but nothing ever seems to come of any of it; insurance companies keep being insurance companies, data keeps getting lost, facebook stays evil, spys keep spying, monopolies keep monopolizing, and banks keep selling everybody out. At this point, it's been made clear that lying is ok, nothing has to
And When This GeoLoc Data Is Stolen? (Score:2)
Imagine a scenario in which somebody was able to steal a bunch of geolocation data from a major telco. Now imagine that you live in an area where properties are spread say 500 yards apart. The data thief gets your geolocation data, which is of course also time-stamped.
The data thief notices that there are two cell phones associated with your address, but during the hours of 8:00am until 18:00