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AT&T is trying to force customers into arbitration in order to avoid a class-action complaint over the telecom's former practice of selling users' real-time location data.
[...] The class-action complaint [(pdf)] was filed in July against AT&T and two location data aggregators called LocationSmart and Zumigo. "AT&T used LocationSmart and Zumigo to manage the buying and selling of its customers' real-time location data," the lawsuit said. The lawsuit seeks monetary damages for customers, an injunction preventing AT&T from selling location data, and certification of a class including all AT&T wireless subscribers between 2011 and the present "whose carrier-level location data AT&T permitted or caused to be used or accessed by any third party without proper authorization."
The lawsuit says:
Despite vowing to its customers that it does not "sell [their] Personal Information to anyone for any purpose," AT&T has been selling its customers' real-time location data to credit agencies, bail bondsmen, and countless other third parties without the required customer consent and without any legal authority. AT&T's practice is an egregious and dangerous breach of Plaintiffs' and all AT&T customers' privacy, as well as a violation of state and federal law.
AT&T previously denied that selling phone location data was illegal, even though Section 222 of the Communications Act says phone companies may not use or disclose customer location information "without the express prior authorization of the customer." The lawsuit alleges that AT&T violated the Communications Act, the California Unfair Competition Law, the California Constitution's right to privacy, and the California Consumers Legal Remedies Act.
A series of reports by Motherboard beginning in January 2019 showed that T-Mobile, Sprint, and AT&T continued selling customers' real-time location data after all the major cellular carriers promised to stop doing so. The data "end[ed] up in the hands of bounty hunters and others not authorized to possess it, letting them track most phones in the country," Motherboard reported at the time. The news site also wrote about AT&T's motion to compel arbitration yesterday.
Personally, I think sale of said data is a serious invasion of privacy and hope AT&T gets hurt where it counts ($$,$$$,$$$,$$$).
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 24 2019, @02:48PM
"After 9/11/01 all the telcos were recruited by the US intel community to spy on everyone"
Actually if you read about the history of the NSA, the telco's were co-opted almost immediately after the very first trans-atlantic cable was laid. There has been a cozy relationship ever since. Worth noting that during wartime they usually play both sides against the middle since they are international companies co-opted by both of the warring states.
Certainly the arbitration clause should be thrown out. AT&T will just pass the expense on to its customers and probably just keep doing what it is doing. (just maybe hide it better) They have always sold your data to the intelligence agencies. Always have, always will. While this is a crime, they are usually better at concealing it. And that is how they will view it: "Damn, we better improve our security!, We got caught!"