The FCC has imposed fines totaling $196 million on AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile US for unauthorized sales of subscribers' location data.

Fines per carrier range from $12 million to $80 million, with T-Mobile receiving the highest penalty.

Carriers sold location data to aggregators without proper customer consent, who then resold it to third parties.

T-Mobile, now inclusive of Sprint, faces combined fines of $92 million, while Verizon and AT&T face penalties of $47 million and $57 million respectively.

The implicated carriers have the option to appeal the FCC's decision.

The incident underscores ongoing data privacy concerns and the need for strict federal privacy regulations.

In light of such security risks, companies like Malwarebytes are promoting cybersecurity solutions for mobile devices.