Did Not Pass the Laugh Test

Verizon has been fined for selling its customers location data without the knowledge of consent of its customers.

Now a federal judge has called bullsh%$ on the telco's claims that it was legal.

Good. 

Verizon lost an attempt to overturn a $46.9 million fine for selling customer location data without its users' consent. The US Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit rejected Verizon's challenge in a ruling issued today.

The Federal Communications Commission fined the three major carriers last year for violations revealed in 2018. The companies sued the FCC in three different courts, with varying results.

AT&T beat the FCC in the reliably conservative US Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, while T-Mobile lost in the District of Columbia Circuit. Although FCC Chairman Brendan Carr voted against the fine last year, when the commission had a Democratic majority, his FCC urged the courts to uphold the Biden-era decisions.

………

"We disagree [with Verizon]," the 2nd Circuit ruling said. "The customer data at issue plainly qualifies as customer proprietary network information, triggering the Communication Act's privacy protections. And the forfeiture order both soundly imposed liability and remained within the strictures of the penalty cap. Nothing about the Commission's proceedings, moreover, transgressed the Seventh Amendment's jury trial guarantee. Indeed, Verizon had, and chose to forgo, the opportunity for a jury trial in federal court. Thus, we DENY Verizon's petition."

Needless to say, I expect SCOTUS to overturn this in an unsigned opinion in the shadow docket.