AT&T Class Action Says Company Sells Customer’s Location Data

AT&T faces scrutiny for its data collection policies — from the government and its customers.

A few weeks ago, the Federal Trade Commission began investigating data collection and sharing practices at AT&T and other providers’, amid suspicion that subscribers’ locations are too easy to find.

Now, on top of this investigation, an AT&T customer has filed a class action lawsuit against the company over the data security issue.

The AT&T class action lawsuit was filed by Tyler Morrison on Monday. Morrison argues that the company sells subscribers’ location information, with no regard to how that information is later use. He aims to stop the company from sharing his and other consumers’ data without investigating the buyers of the information.

Allegedly, AT&T promised to stop this practice, but continues it nonetheless.

Morrison claims that he and other users are injured by this data collection because their information could be misused. Allegedly, AT&T customers did not consent to this practice, and were not told how their data would be used.

He seeks an injunction barring AT&T from continuing this allegedly harmful practice and seeks damages on behalf of himself and similarly affected consumers.

The AT&T class action argues that “in essence, AT&T was relying on the end user of the location data not to abuse the data, or not to obtain the data under false pretenses. In practice, the end users exercised no oversight over the process whatsoever.”

AT&T has disputed these claims, saying that the company has not shared data without first obtaining consumers’ permission. Additionally, the company claimed that after it found out that the buyers of the information were misusing it, the company stopped selling the data.

Further defending their product, AT&T noted that “location-based services like roadside assistance, fraud protection, and medical devices alerts have clear and even life-saving benefits.”

Despite its insistence of proper conduct, Morrison’s was not the only criticism of AT&T’s actions in the area of data sale.

Last year, the Federal Communications Commission investigated the issue. However, Democratic lawmakers argued that this investigation did not yield results, saying that AT&T continues to sell consumer data, caring more about profits than about protecting user safety.

Largely, Morrison’s data protection class action lawsuit is part of a growing climate of concern over how consumer information is used, and whether or not these uses can have negative effects on consumers.

Google and Facebook are facing similar claims that the companies improperly share user data. Allegedly, these companies track and store user data. The class actions argue that this collection continues even when the data collection setting is “off” suggesting that the companies do not really give consumers any control over how their data is used, or whether or not it is collected at all.

Morrison is represented by Cory. L. Zajdel, Jeffrey C. Toppe, and David M. Trojanowski of Z Law LLC.

The AT&T Data Collection Class Action Lawsuit is Morrison v. AT&T Mobility LLC, Case No. 1:19-cv-01257, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland.

UPDATE: On Aug. 14, 2019, an AT&T customer fought back against the phone and internet company’s efforts to end a data privacy class action lawsuit in arbitration.

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