SCOTUS Rules Against AT&T, Verizon Over Fines For Selling Location Data

Justice Brett Kavanaugh notably suggested that the carriers had already secured an important concession from the government

He noted that federal officials acknowledged FCC penalty orders are not self-executing nonbinding sans a jury trial.

“It seems like you’ve won on the law going forward, one way or the other,” Kavanaugh told the attorney representing the carriers, per ARSTechnica.

John Bergmayer, legal director at advocacy group Public Knowledge, hailed the ruling

“The Supreme Court got this one right,” Bergmayer said in a press release.

“AT&T and Verizon sold access to their customers’ location data, then failed to stop bounty hunters and even a rogue sheriff from using it to track people who had no idea they were being followed,” he added.