{"id":1783,"date":"2026-10-13T00:12:25","date_gmt":"2026-10-13T00:12:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kpdaily.info\/?p=1783"},"modified":"2026-10-13T00:12:25","modified_gmt":"2026-10-13T00:12:25","slug":"scotus-rules-against-att-verizon-over-fines-for-selling-location-data","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kpdaily.info\/?p=1783","title":{"rendered":"SCOTUS Rules Against AT&#038;T, Verizon Over Fines For Selling Location Data.."},"content":{"rendered":"<header class=\"entry-header\"><em>The Supreme Court upheld the Federal Communications Commission\u2019s authority to fine telecommunications companies for mishandling customer location data, rejecting constitutional challenges from AT&amp;T and Verizon.<\/em><\/header>\n<div class=\"entry-body\">\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<div class=\"code-block code-block-2\"><\/div>\n<p>The 8-1 decision Tuesday rejected arguments that the FCC\u2019s administrative enforcement process violated the companies\u2019 Seventh Amendment right to a jury trial. AT&amp;T and Verizon faced combined penalties totaling $104 million in 2024 over allegations they improperly secured customers\u2019 real-time location information.<\/p>\n<div class=\"code-block code-block-2\"><\/div>\n<h2>The Constitutional Challenge<\/h2>\n<p>The carriers claimed the FCC\u2019s framework allowed them to pay fines and then challenge penalties in federal appeals courts, rather than having cases decided by a jury initially. \u201cCompanies retained access to jury trials through an alternative path,\u201d Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority, explaining that FCC penalty orders do not become legally binding until enforced in court.<\/p>\n<p>AT&amp;T and Verizon argued this process deprived them of constitutional protections guaranteed in civil cases involving substantial financial penalties. The dispute originated from privacy breaches discovered in 2018, when unauthorized parties including bounty hunters accessed the carriers\u2019 real-time location data without customer consent.<\/p>\n<div class=\"code-block code-block-3\"><\/div>\n<h2>The Ruling\u2019s Impact<\/h2>\n<p>The Supreme Court decision preserves the FCC\u2019s enforcement powers over telecommunications companies regarding consumer protection violations. The ruling clarifies that administrative penalties imposed by federal agencies do not automatically trigger jury trial requirements under the Constitution.<\/p>\n<p>Both carriers challenged the FCC\u2019s enforcement process after paying the penalties, but the court found no constitutional violation in the agency\u2019s administrative approach. The decision affirmed the FCC\u2019s ability to protect consumers through its penalty framework without requiring jury trials at the initial enforcement stage.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Supreme Court upheld the Federal Communications Commission\u2019s authority to fine telecommunications companies for mishandling customer location data, rejecting constitutional challenges from AT&amp;T and Verizon. The 8-1 decision Tuesday rejected &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1784,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kpdaily.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kpdaily.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kpdaily.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpdaily.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpdaily.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1783"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kpdaily.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1783\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1785,"href":"https:\/\/kpdaily.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1783\/revisions\/1785"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpdaily.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kpdaily.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpdaily.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpdaily.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}