Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint suspend selling of customer location data after prison officials were caught misusing it -- The Washington Post

Just another day in the data broker business...

"Wyden's investigation found that one of Verizon's indirect corporate customers, a prison phone company called Securus, had used Verizon's customer location data in a system that effectively let correctional officers spy on millions of Americans. In a letter to the Federal Communications Commission last month highlighting the probe, Wyden said prison officials using Securus's surveillance system could obtain real-time location data on Americans with little more than a "pinky promise" of propriety, leading to "activities wholly unrelated" to prison management.

To gain access to the data, prison officers simply visited an online portal and uploaded an "official document" showing they had permission to access the information. But, Wyden told the FCC, senior Securus officials admitted that the company did not review the requests for information or require that supporting documents reflect the decision of a judge or other legal authority."

Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint suspend selling of customer location data after prison officials were caught misusing it  -- The  Washington Post