Verizon, AT&T Halting Sale of Customer Location Data to Aggregators

Verizon will no longer sell mobile customers’ real-time locations to two third-party data brokers “to prevent misuse of that information,” it wrote Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., in a response which he released Tuesday. AT&T said it's also ending the practice. Verizon sold the data to LocationSmart and Zumigo, which then resold it to other companies. “We conducted a comprehensive review of our location aggregator program,” wrote Verizon Chief Privacy Officer Karen Zacharia. “We are initiating a process to terminate our existing agreements for the location aggregator program.” She said Verizon won’t sign new agreements “unless and until we are comfortable that we can adequately protect our customers’ location data through technological advancements and/or other practices.” AT&T did the same, a spokesperson said. “Our top priority is to protect our customers’ information, and, to that end, we will be ending our work with aggregators for these services as soon as practical in a way that preserves important, potential lifesaving services like emergency roadside assistance.” “Sounds like word hasn’t gotten to you, @ronwyden,” tweeted T-Mobile CEO John Legere. “I’ve personally evaluated this issue & have pledged that @tmobile will not sell customer location data to shady middlemen.” T-Mobile also responded more formally to Wyden. Sprint said it takes steps to protect customer privacy. Wyden noted the Verizon and AT&T statements in a tweet.