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Brannan doesn’t want cellphone companies selling your data

July 29, 2019 Paula Katinas

Photo courtesy of Councilmember Justin Brannan’s office

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Cellphone customers might not realize it, but telecommunication companies could be sharing their exact location with third parties while they’re talking on the phone.

It’s a lucrative business, according to the New York Times, which reported on Tuesday that telecommunications companies and mobile apps make billions of dollars a year from the often-secretive practice of selling a customer’s geo-location to the highest bidder. According to the Times report, the companies sell the data to digital marketers, retail advertisers, roadside assistance services and even bounty hunters.

But sharing data that pinpoints a cellphone user’s location could soon become illegal in New York City.

Councilmember Justin Brannan has introduced a bill that would outlaw the practice and impose hefty fines on companies that violate the law.

Brannan’s bill would prohibit telecommunications companies and mobile apps from selling or sharing a consumer’s geo-location within New York City. Violators would face fines of up to $10,000 a day and that fine would be imposed even if the company shares data from just a single cellphone customer.

Brannan, a Democrat representing Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights and parts of Bensonhurst, said he sees it as a privacy issue.

“We’re seeing major telecommunications companies cashing in on the average working person’s private location data. A person can sign up for cell service and their data can end up in the hands of five different companies and shady geo-locating entities,” Brannan said in a statement.

“It’s Big Brother Big Business, and if we don’t act, it’s going to get worse,” Brannan added.

Consumers are often unaware that their data is being shared, according to Brannan, who said telecommunications companies bury their privacy disclosures within excessively wordy and vague policy forms that most people don’t bother to read.

And even for those who do read wordy privacy policy documents, it’s still not fair, Brannnan said.

“New Yorkers shouldn’t have to sign away their privacy rights in order to have a cellphone,” Brannan said. “Geo-location may be a helpful tool with a user’s permission, or for law enforcement when solving a crime. It should not be used just so that companies can make a buck off customers without their consent.”

The bill does carve out exceptions. Data requested by law enforcement agencies and information required by federal, state or city law would be exempt. And companies would be permitted to share users’ data if the customer agrees to it.

If passed by the City Council and signed by Mayor Bill de Blasio, Brannan’s bill would become the first law of its kind in the country. There is currently no federal law to prevent the practice of geo-location sharing.

The bill has been submitted to the council’s Committee on Technology, chaired by Queens Councilmember Robert Holden, for consideration.

Telecommunications giants like AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon have all pledged to stop selling geo-location data. But the Brannan bill would mandate that they stop the practice.

Nick Ludlum, a spokesperson for CTIA, a trade association representing the wireless telecommunications industry, told the Home Reporter the organization is currently reviewing the bill.

Ludlum also emailed the newspaper a statement from Jamie Hastings, senior vice president of external and state affairs for CTIA, who expressed concern about different laws in different cities and states governing the telecommunications industry.

“Crossing state or city lines doesn’t change your wireless experience. The laws governing that experience shouldn’t change either,” Hastings stated.

Kathryn Wylde, president and CEO of the Partnership for New York City, also had concerns about creating a patchwork of laws on cellphone data sharing that differ broadly from state to state.

“This is not an efficient way to solve this problem,” she told the New York Times when asked about the bill.