Verizon, AT&T Rein In Location-Data Sellers After Flap
- Move follows controversy involving prison contractor Securus
- Company had allowed law enforcement to track customers
Photographer: Jin Lee/Bloomberg
This article is for subscribers only.
Verizon Communications Inc. and AT&T Inc. will rein in third-party selling of their phone-location data after a prison contractor let law-enforcement officers track wireless customers without authorization.
The two largest U.S. wireless carrier announced the move in response to a plea from Senator Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon. The legislator had demanded last month that carriers and the Federal Communications Commission investigate the practice of tracking phones by Securus Technologies Inc., which provides telecom services to prisons and jails.