Situation: US mobile operators accused of illegal sale of subscribers geodata
The Quartet, the largest mobile operators in the United States, may be required to pay compensation to subscribers for selling their geolocation data to third parties.
Trials have already begun.
/ Unsplash / craig whitehead
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It is not the first year when American mobile operators are accused of selling subscribers' metadata. Of particular concern to journalists, politicians and ordinary citizens is the sale of information about the location of mobile device users. Brokers who buy data from operators resell them to third parties. Those, in turn, can dispose of information as they please. From determining the location of mobile devices at the request of a conditional detective agency to mass profiling and audience segmentation for marketing systems, advertising networks, credit and financial organizations.
In May 2018, The New York Times published an article about the Securus platform. It is designed to track the location of subscribers who were called by prisoners of US prisons. The platform is used by law enforcement officers. It turned out that the service allows you to find out the geolocation of any device in the country without a preliminary request from special services and a court decision.
After the release of this material, US senators demanded that operators verify the activities of all organizations that somehow work with the geolocation data of subscribers. Operators reported that they no longer trade in such data and ceased to cooperate with partners selling information about people without their consent. However, location information on mobile devices is still available for a whole range of organizations.
/ Flickr / Craighton Miller / CC BY
So in January 2019, Motherboard journalists conducted an experiment - they paid a private investigator and asked him to establish the location of a particular smartphone. Using the service of the company Microbilt, intended for financial organizations, the location of the device was determined with an accuracy of up to hundreds of meters.
The senators again intervened - they wrote an open letter to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), where they were asked to investigate existing practices of selling geodata and prevent their illegal traffic. Transfer of geolocation data to third parties interested customers of operators who filed lawsuits.
In early May, the law firm Z Law appealed to the Maryland Federal District Court. She deals with consumer protection issues. The firm filed lawsuits against four major US carriers - AT & T, T-Mobile, Sprint and Verizon.
The applicants were five clients of the mentioned companies - however, they act on behalf of all subscribers of the operators. Claims fall into the category of collective ones : the plaintiffs demand to pay compensation to all those who used the services of telecom providers in the period from 2015 to 2019.
According to the documents , companies are demanded compensation for the resale of users' personal data without their consent. The total number of victims of the actions of the operators of the plaintiffs estimated at least 300 million people. In case of victory in court, each of them will receive payments from companies, the amount of which will be determined by the results of the process.
The legal basis for the lawsuits was the 222 section of the Federal Law on Communications (Federal Communications Act), which prohibits the transmission of subscriber geodata without their consent.
The plaintiffs believe that the sale of geolocation data is illegal, and therefore operators should stop it. Their position is supported by the fact that when buying location data, brokers compare them with other databases. For example, one of the platforms of companies using information on the geolocation of smartphones, by phone number can give not only the location of the owner, but also his name and address of residence.
A full ban on the sale of geolocation data was also supported by the FCC representative Jessica Roznworsel (Jessica Rosenworcel). She also noted that this situation was possible due to insufficient control of the FCC Chairman Ajit Pai over the actions of the providers. Rosnillsel urged the commission to pay more attention to the protection of citizens' data.
/ Unsplash / Liam Seskis
The operators did not agree with the charges. For example, representatives of AT & T stated that any personal data is transmitted only with the consent of the device owners, and contracts with all unscrupulous telecom partners have already been broken.
The provider also pointed to the benefits of services that transmit information about the geolocation of smartphones. Among them are medical devices that can send information about the location of the patient to the attending physician if this becomes unwell.
The protection of personal data in the United States pay more and more attention. For example, in California, the CCPA law - the California Consumer Privacy Act will come into force in 2020. He will oblige companies to inform their customers about who else will be given their personal data.
If we talk about the situation with the operators, then they may make other claims. During the investigation, Motherboard also found out that telecoms were selling data intended for emergency services and allowing the device to be located with an accuracy of several meters.
In February, the Consumer Rights Protection Organization, Public Knowledge, opposed the sale of data for emergency services - however, the FCC did not punish the guilty operators. There is a possibility that telecoms will be asked to return to this issue.
Trials have already begun.
/ Unsplash / craig whitehead
')
Background question
It is not the first year when American mobile operators are accused of selling subscribers' metadata. Of particular concern to journalists, politicians and ordinary citizens is the sale of information about the location of mobile device users. Brokers who buy data from operators resell them to third parties. Those, in turn, can dispose of information as they please. From determining the location of mobile devices at the request of a conditional detective agency to mass profiling and audience segmentation for marketing systems, advertising networks, credit and financial organizations.
In May 2018, The New York Times published an article about the Securus platform. It is designed to track the location of subscribers who were called by prisoners of US prisons. The platform is used by law enforcement officers. It turned out that the service allows you to find out the geolocation of any device in the country without a preliminary request from special services and a court decision.
After the release of this material, US senators demanded that operators verify the activities of all organizations that somehow work with the geolocation data of subscribers. Operators reported that they no longer trade in such data and ceased to cooperate with partners selling information about people without their consent. However, location information on mobile devices is still available for a whole range of organizations.
/ Flickr / Craighton Miller / CC BY
So in January 2019, Motherboard journalists conducted an experiment - they paid a private investigator and asked him to establish the location of a particular smartphone. Using the service of the company Microbilt, intended for financial organizations, the location of the device was determined with an accuracy of up to hundreds of meters.
The senators again intervened - they wrote an open letter to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), where they were asked to investigate existing practices of selling geodata and prevent their illegal traffic. Transfer of geolocation data to third parties interested customers of operators who filed lawsuits.
Lawsuits against operators
In early May, the law firm Z Law appealed to the Maryland Federal District Court. She deals with consumer protection issues. The firm filed lawsuits against four major US carriers - AT & T, T-Mobile, Sprint and Verizon.
The applicants were five clients of the mentioned companies - however, they act on behalf of all subscribers of the operators. Claims fall into the category of collective ones : the plaintiffs demand to pay compensation to all those who used the services of telecom providers in the period from 2015 to 2019.
According to the documents , companies are demanded compensation for the resale of users' personal data without their consent. The total number of victims of the actions of the operators of the plaintiffs estimated at least 300 million people. In case of victory in court, each of them will receive payments from companies, the amount of which will be determined by the results of the process.
The legal basis for the lawsuits was the 222 section of the Federal Law on Communications (Federal Communications Act), which prohibits the transmission of subscriber geodata without their consent.
Reaction to the charges and arguments of the parties
The plaintiffs believe that the sale of geolocation data is illegal, and therefore operators should stop it. Their position is supported by the fact that when buying location data, brokers compare them with other databases. For example, one of the platforms of companies using information on the geolocation of smartphones, by phone number can give not only the location of the owner, but also his name and address of residence.
A full ban on the sale of geolocation data was also supported by the FCC representative Jessica Roznworsel (Jessica Rosenworcel). She also noted that this situation was possible due to insufficient control of the FCC Chairman Ajit Pai over the actions of the providers. Rosnillsel urged the commission to pay more attention to the protection of citizens' data.
/ Unsplash / Liam Seskis
The operators did not agree with the charges. For example, representatives of AT & T stated that any personal data is transmitted only with the consent of the device owners, and contracts with all unscrupulous telecom partners have already been broken.
The provider also pointed to the benefits of services that transmit information about the geolocation of smartphones. Among them are medical devices that can send information about the location of the patient to the attending physician if this becomes unwell.
Prospects for the case
The protection of personal data in the United States pay more and more attention. For example, in California, the CCPA law - the California Consumer Privacy Act will come into force in 2020. He will oblige companies to inform their customers about who else will be given their personal data.
If we talk about the situation with the operators, then they may make other claims. During the investigation, Motherboard also found out that telecoms were selling data intended for emergency services and allowing the device to be located with an accuracy of several meters.
In February, the Consumer Rights Protection Organization, Public Knowledge, opposed the sale of data for emergency services - however, the FCC did not punish the guilty operators. There is a possibility that telecoms will be asked to return to this issue.
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Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/452288/
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