Electronic Frontier Foundation Lawsuit Against Mobile Data Collection, and Fort Collins Fiber Network

The Electronic Frontier Foundation announced Tuesday that it is filing a class action lawsuit on behalf of AT&T customers in California to stop the telecom giant and two data location aggregators from allowing third parties to access wireless customers’ real-time locations without authorization. The

Electronic Frontier Foundation Lawsuit Against Mobile Data Collection, and Fort Collins Fiber Network
Photo of Sen. Josh Hawley taken 2022 by Gage Skidmore

The Electronic Frontier Foundation announced Tuesday that it is filing a class action lawsuit on behalf of AT&T customers in California to stop the telecom giant and two data location aggregators from allowing third parties to access wireless customers’ real-time locations without authorization.

The lawsuit alleges AT&T violated the Federal Communications Act and engaged in deceptive practices under California’s unfair competition law, as AT&T deceived customers into believing that the company was protecting their location data. The suit seeks money damages and an injunction against AT&T, as well as the involved location data aggregators, LocationSmart and Zumigo. The injunction would prohibit AT&T from selling customer location data and ensure that any location data already sold is returned to AT&T or destroyed.

An investigation by Motherboard earlier this year revealed that any cellphone user’s precise, real-time location could be bought for just $300. The report showed that carriers, including AT&T, were making this data available to hundreds of third parties without first verifying that users had authorized such access.

“AT&T and data aggregators have systematically violated the location privacy rights of tens of millions of AT&T customers,” said EFF Staff Attorney Aaron Mackey.

“To sell this information without any notification to users is deceptive, extraordinarily invasive of their privacy, and illegal,” said Thomas D. Warren, a partner at Pierce Bainbridge.

Fort Collins, Colorado, launches Connexion, a voter-approved broadband network

The Coloradoan reported that the city of Fort Collins is gearing up to launch Fort Collins Connexion, the voter-approved fiber-optic broadband network that promises high-speed internet service for every home and business.

Connexion will offer internet, phone and video services. An early business plan for the network projected charges of $70 per month for gigabit-per-second internet speed and $50 per month for 50-megabit speed.

On July 2, the city council gave initial approval to an ordinance allowing the utility to enter into long-term license contracts to acquire video content rights.

As consumers wait for solid pricing information from the city — and prepare to weigh it against what Comcast, CenturyLink and other service providers charge — Connexion contractors are continuing to run fiber optic cable around town. The city issued $143 million in bonds to pay for building out the network. The network will use 1,000 miles of fiber to reach the city’s 62,000 premises.