Verizon, T­-Mobile Face Data Sharing Class Action

On the heels of data use accusations launched at AT&T and Sprint, Verizon and T-Mobile are now facing effectively the same claims in class action lawsuits challenging the companies’ alleged practice of selling customers’ location data to third parties, including aggregators.

These four data class action lawsuits were filed within days of each other.

In her data use class action lawsuit filed against Verizon, Baltimore resident Michelle Morrison argues, “Verizon admittedly sold customer geolocation data to third-parties, including but not limited to data aggregators, who in turn, were able to use or resell the geolocation data with little or no oversight by Verizon.”

Before these data class action lawsuits were filed, the Federal Trade Commission investigated broadband providers’ use and sharing of consumer data. This investigation was launched after it was reported that user data from AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, and T-Mobile is easy for anyone, including those with malicious intent, to get their hands on.

Allegedly, the companies have said that they will stop sharing consumer data, but have continued to do so. Reportedly, Democrats in Congress say that the Federal Trade Commission’s investigation yielded nothing, and that consumer data is still being sold.

The Verizon, T-Mobile class actions state that the wireless carriers sell consumer data to third parties without considering how the purchasers of the data use or protect the data, if they will at all.

In the data class action lawsuit filed against T-Mobile, plaintiffs Shawna Ray and Kantice Joyner argue that T-Mobile has a statutory obligation to protect consumers’ personal network information under the Federal Communications Act, and selling data indiscriminately violates that law.

Allegedly, the Federal Communications Commission has rules designed to “ensure that telecommunications carriers establish effective safeguards to protect against unauthorized use or disclosure” of information that can identify specific users.” Allegedly, this was the kind of sensitive information that the four companies sold to third parties.

The T-Mobile customers go on to say that T-Mobile misrepresents its data use policies to customers.

Allegedly, in its Privacy Policy, T-Mobile promises that it does “not sell, license, rent, or otherwise provide your Personal Information to unaffiliated third-parties…to market their services or products to you without your consent.”

T-Mobile reportedly makes a binding contract with consumers promising to protect the confidentiality of customers’ information.

The customers argue that T-Mobile has repeatedly violated this promise and its Privacy Policy actively misrepresents how it uses data.

Allegedly, T-Mobile did not receive consent from consumers to share data, and actively told consumers that they would not share the data, but did so nonetheless.

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

The T-Mobile, Verizon Data Sharing Class Action Lawsuits are Shawnay Ray, et al. v. T-Mobile US Inc., Case No. 1:19-cv-01299-SAG, and Michelle Morrison v. Verizon Communications Inc., Case No. 1:19-cv-01298-SAG, both in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland.
UPDATE: On Aug. 5, 2019, T-Mobile customersfiled an oppositionto the cell-phone company’s motion to compel arbitration in a class action lawsuit regarding the disclosure of their personal information.

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