AT&T Class Action Says Customer Location Data Sold To Third Parties

A class action lawsuit claims that AT&T unlawfully sells customer data to third parties.

The AT&T class action lawsuit was filed by Katherine Scott, Carolyn Jewel, and George Pontis who say AT&T advertises to its customers that it does not sell their personal information to anyone for any purpose.

However, the company allegedly sells real-time location data to organizations including credit agencies, bail bondsmen, bounty hunters, and prison officials.

The plaintiffs assert that this is done without customer consent and without any legal authority. They claim that AT&T’s sale of their data is an “egregious and dangerous breach of all AT&T’s privacy, and represents a violation of state and federal law.”

The AT&T data sale class action lawsuit states that AT&T is entrusted with real-time data location from customers.

This information reportedly helps 911 operators find individuals in the event of an emergency. This data is made available by technology so precise that it can locate a 911 caller within a building, even to a specific floor or room within seconds.

Though AT&T has access to extremely powerful information about customer whereabouts, the AT&T class action lawsuit goes on to say that customers are not able to opt out of the collection of data. Allegedly, the data is not intended for commercial sale, and under federal law, AT&T is required to protect and safeguard this information.

The AT&T class action says that federal law prohibits AT&T from sharing the information with third parties “except in rare public safety scenarios or with the customer ’s affirmative, express consent.”

The customers assert that AT&T has knowingly breached its duties to protect customer data for years. Allegedly, AT&T works with aggregators who specialize in the commercial sale of location data for widespread purposes. The customers assert that two of the aggregators that AT&T works with include LocationSmart and Zumigo.

Allegedly, LocationSmart and Zumigo manage the sale of AT&T consumer data to thousands of entities without consumer consent and outside the approved emergency uses.

The class action lawsuit says that the data sale practices were only exposed after an FBI investigation into the issue.

Scott and other the customers assert that AT&T has profited from the sale of the data. They also claim that the AT&T data has been used to harass customers and bypass their Fourth Amendment Rights, which prohibits unreasonable search and seizures.

The AT&T customers are represented by Thomas D. Warren, Deborah Renner, Abbye R. Klamann Ognibene, and Claiborne R. Hane of Pierce Bainbridge Beck Price & Hecht LLP, and by Aaron Mackey, Andrew Crocker, and Adam D. Schwartz of Electronic Frontier Foundation.

The AT&T Unlawful Location Data Sale Class Action Lawsuit is Katherine Scott, et al. v. AT&T Inc., et al., Case No. 3:19-cv-04063-DMR, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Fransisco/Oakland Division.

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