Supreme Court Rejects Verizon Bid For $47 Million Refund of FCC Fine (arstechnica.com)
(Monday August 17, 2026 @11:30PM (BeauHD)
from the better-luck-next-time dept.)
- Reference: 0185026332
- News link: https://yro.slashdot.org/story/26/08/17/223241/supreme-court-rejects-verizon-bid-for-47-million-refund-of-fcc-fine
- Source link: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/08/supreme-court-rejects-verizon-bid-for-47-million-refund-of-fcc-fine/
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica:
> The Supreme Court today [1]rejected Verizon's attempt to get a $47 million refund from the Federal Communications Commission . In a [2]list of orders (PDF) issued by the court, Verizon's petition was denied without explanation. The denial apparently ends any possibility of Verizon asking a lower court to review the fine and order the FCC to issue a refund. However, AT&T and T-Mobile are continuing to [3]challenge similar fines on grounds that selling device-location data did not violate US telecom law.
>
> AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon were [4]fined a total of $196 million in 2024 for selling mobile users' real-time location data without their customers' consent. The carriers sold device-location information to data aggregators, who resold it to other firms. The carriers paid the fines and sought to have them overturned in courts, claiming their Seventh Amendment right to a jury trial was violated. Challenges by AT&T and Verizon were combined into a single case, and the Supreme Court [5]ruled against the carriers in June of this year.
>
> The court ruled that the FCC penalty process does not violate the Seventh Amendment because the carriers could have obtained jury trials if they refused to pay the fines and waited for the government to try to collect. The [6]ruling (PDF) against the carriers was 8-1, with Justice Clarence Thomas dissenting.
[1] https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/08/supreme-court-rejects-verizon-bid-for-47-million-refund-of-fcc-fine/
[2] https://www.supremecourt.gov/orders/courtorders/081726zor_8m59.pdf
[3] https://yro.slashdot.org/story/26/01/12/229233/supreme-court-takes-case-that-could-strip-fcc-of-authority-to-issue-fines
[4] https://yro.slashdot.org/story/25/09/11/2021243/court-rejects-verizon-claim-that-selling-location-data-without-consent-is-legal
[5] https://yro.slashdot.org/story/26/06/04/1722208/supreme-court-sides-with-trump-administration-on-federal-regulation-of-telecom-companies
[6] https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/25-406_nmip.pdf
> The Supreme Court today [1]rejected Verizon's attempt to get a $47 million refund from the Federal Communications Commission . In a [2]list of orders (PDF) issued by the court, Verizon's petition was denied without explanation. The denial apparently ends any possibility of Verizon asking a lower court to review the fine and order the FCC to issue a refund. However, AT&T and T-Mobile are continuing to [3]challenge similar fines on grounds that selling device-location data did not violate US telecom law.
>
> AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon were [4]fined a total of $196 million in 2024 for selling mobile users' real-time location data without their customers' consent. The carriers sold device-location information to data aggregators, who resold it to other firms. The carriers paid the fines and sought to have them overturned in courts, claiming their Seventh Amendment right to a jury trial was violated. Challenges by AT&T and Verizon were combined into a single case, and the Supreme Court [5]ruled against the carriers in June of this year.
>
> The court ruled that the FCC penalty process does not violate the Seventh Amendment because the carriers could have obtained jury trials if they refused to pay the fines and waited for the government to try to collect. The [6]ruling (PDF) against the carriers was 8-1, with Justice Clarence Thomas dissenting.
[1] https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/08/supreme-court-rejects-verizon-bid-for-47-million-refund-of-fcc-fine/
[2] https://www.supremecourt.gov/orders/courtorders/081726zor_8m59.pdf
[3] https://yro.slashdot.org/story/26/01/12/229233/supreme-court-takes-case-that-could-strip-fcc-of-authority-to-issue-fines
[4] https://yro.slashdot.org/story/25/09/11/2021243/court-rejects-verizon-claim-that-selling-location-data-without-consent-is-legal
[5] https://yro.slashdot.org/story/26/06/04/1722208/supreme-court-sides-with-trump-administration-on-federal-regulation-of-telecom-companies
[6] https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/25-406_nmip.pdf
Good (Score:3)
by SlashbotAgent ( 6477336 )
Good, they deserve pain.
Unfortunately, we'll probably be the ones footing the bill in terms of higher charges.
Re: (Score:2)
by Tony Isaac ( 1301187 )
The pain of $47 million is about as severe to Verizon as a pin prick. Kind of the cost of doing business.
Re: (Score:3)
by Valgrus Thunderaxe ( 8769977 )
A communist would never tap someone's phone.
Re: (Score:2)
by ArchieBunker ( 132337 )
You mean like the stasi?
Hey VZ (Score:2)
by Ritz_Just_Ritz ( 883997 )
Go fuck yourselves.
As if it weren't more obvious (Score:2)
by Khyber ( 864651 )
We already knew Thomas was deep in the hands of telecoms - this shows how deep.
One is not and two is some but three is wise. (Score:2)
by couchslug ( 175151 )
Failure to ignore that has never not been idiotic.
If your data matters own at least two copies and verify them.
Not hard.
Too bad... (Score:3)
Too bad, that is, that the fine wasn't two or three orders of magnitude higher.
At the very least, such fines need to represent a serious hit to the bottom line, and an end to the careers of the people responsible for the unlawful activity. More realistically, the fines should come uncomfortably close to being existential threats.
The broligarchs need to understand that while they may run their companies, they don't run the whole damned society. They need to be treated as the grifting mob bosses that they truly are.
Re: (Score:2)
You realize this is Telecom, not FAANGXia? (is there an acronym for the current stock hotness?)
These are the oligarchs that came out of the post-WWII gravy train. The ones that partnered with NSA while building a middle class.
Not the new ones you're thinking of, who are building their own intelligence agencies and attempting to destroy the middle class.