FCC Plans $10 Million Fine for Carriers that Breached Consumer Privacy

The Federal Communications Commission intends to fine TerraCom, Inc. and YourTel America, Inc. $10 million for several violations of laws protecting the privacy of phone customers’ personal information.

According to an investigation by the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau, TerraCom and YourTel apparently stored Social Security numbers, names, addresses, driver’s licenses, and other sensitive information belonging to their customers on unprotected Internet servers that anyone in the world could access. The information was gathered to demonstrate eligibility for the Lifeline program, which is a Universal Service Fund program that provides discounted phone services for low-income consumers. The companies allegedly breached the personal data of up to 305,000 consumers through their lax data security practices and exposed those consumers to identity theft and fraud. This is the FCC’s first data security case and the largest privacy action in the FCC’s history.


FCC Plans $10 Million Fine for Carriers that Breached Consumer Privacy Public Notice (FCC cancels Enforcement Meeting)