Security News
The Federal Communications Commission Friday proposed fines against the nation's four largest wireless carriers for selling real-time mobile phone location data without taking reasonable measures to protect against unauthorized access to that information. In Friday statement, Paj said: "The FCC has long had clear rules on the books requiring all phone companies to protect their customers' personal information. And since 2007, these companies have been on notice that they must take reasonable precautions to safeguard this data and that the FCC will take strong enforcement action if they don't. Today, we do just that. This FCC will not tolerate phone companies putting Americans' privacy at risk."
The chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee - which oversees the FCC - Frank Pallone issued a statement: "Following our longstanding calls to take action, the FCC finally informed the Committee today that one or more wireless carriers apparently violated federal privacy protections by turning a blind eye to the widespread disclosure of consumers' real-time location data. This is certainly a step in the right direction, but I'll be watching to make sure the FCC doesn't just let these lawbreakers off the hook with a slap on the wrist." For her part, Commissioner Rosenworcel put out a statement saying: "For more than a year, the FCC was silent after news reports alerted us that for just a few hundred dollars, shady middlemen could sell your location within a few hundred meters based on your wireless phone data."
A Federal Communications Commission investigation found that one or more U.S. wireless carriers violated federal law by selling consumer location data to third parties, according to a letter FCC Chairman Ajit Pai sent to congressional lawmakers. The findings described in the letter came from an investigation the FCC launched after the New York Times in 2018 reported about how the biggest wireless carriers, including AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile, were giving real-time location data to third-party companies.
Now, a cadre of lawmakers is demanding to know what the agency might be doing to track and combat SIM swapping. The lawmakers asked the FCC to divulge whether it tracks consumer complaints about fraudulent SIM swapping and number "Port-outs," which involve moving the victim's phone number to another carrier.
FCC Funds Can No Longer Be Used to Buy Their Gear; Rip-and-Replace Plan ProposedThe FCC voted unanimously Friday to ban telecommunications companies from using FCC funds to buy equipment from...
Congressional Letter Criticizes FCC for Not Enforcing Communications ActDemocratic members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee have sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission...
Lawmaker Asks for Encryption and Authentication RequirementsU.S. Senator Ron Wyden is pushing the Federal Communications Commission to ensure that wireless carriers build new security measures,...
Calls for Ban on Use of Commission Funds for Equipment From Huawei, ZTEFCC Chairman Ajit Pai is pushing a proposal that would ban U.S. telecommunications firms from using commission funds to buy...
ZTE also on hit list Ajit Pai, chairman of the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC), has devised a two-part scheme to erase Chinese hardware from American telecoms networks.…
Concerns Raised About China Telecom and China UnicomU.S. Senators Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Tom Cotton, R-Ark., are asking the Federal Communications Commission to reconsider operating licenses...