FCC Fines AT&T $25 Million In Biggest Settlement Yet Over Consumer Privacy Breaches
On April 8, 2015, the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) announced a $25 million settlement—the FCC’s largest privacy and data security enforcement action to date—with the telecommunications carrier AT&T Services, Inc. (“AT&T”) for a series of alleged privacy breaches from 2013 through 2014 that may have compromised almost 280,000 customers’ proprietary information. In the Consent Decree in In the Matter of AT&T Services, Inc., the FCC alleged that AT&T violated Sections 201(b) and 222(c) of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended (the “Communications Act”), and Sections 64.2010(a) and 64.2011(b) of the FCC’s rules.