FCC Fines US Cell Carriers $200M for Selling Location Data
FCC Fines US Cell Carriers $200M for Selling Location Data
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FCC Fines US Cell Carriers $200M for Selling Location Data
10 comments
10 comments
FCC Fines US Cell Carriers $200M for Selling Location Data
FCC Fines US Cell Carriers $200M for Selling Location Data
The cost of doing business. I'm sure they've made significantly more.
$91 million in fines for T-Mobile + $12 million for Sprint. T-mobile made $8.32 billion of net income in 2023. The fines represent 1.21% of their net income.
$57 million for AT&T. AT&T made $14.2 billion in the same time period. 0.42% of their net income in fines.
$48 million for Verizon. They made $11.6 billion. 0.41%.
In comparison, let’s take the median working class guy making median income, rounded up a couple thousands to a nice $40k/year. We’re comparing net income, so after income taxes, deductions, living expenses, let’s be generous, guy is great at budgeting, lives frugally, say he’s still left with $20k/year. The worst fine is roughly equivalent to the average American having to pay a $242 fine. Not even taking into account that in this situation, the guy likely made tons of profit from the transaction in the first place.
The fines for these things need to be a hard percentage.
The difference is that $242 hurts when you only have $20k per year. These fines don't hurt these companies at all. They likely had the money set aside already, in case they were fined.