AT&T pays $2 million to settle customer privacy suit

It’s been a year and a half since AT&T acquired Dobson Communications. Since then, they were ordered to divest a number of their wireless licenses which overlapped with their acquisition. This included rural areas in Kentucky and Oklahoma. They did that, but the problem was that they apparently didn’t take enough measures to protect consumer privacy, failing to rid their own records of confidential consumer account information. So the Department of Justice has ordered they pay $2 million in a settlement. Bad AT&T.

“Consequently, AT&T personnel obtained unauthorized access to the divested businesses’ competitively sensitive customer information and in some situations used it to solicit and win away the divested businesses’ customers,” the DoJ said a press release. “The petition further alleges that AT&T, without authorization by the management trustee, waived early termination fees for several customers of the divested businesses to facilitate switching their wireless service from the divested businesses to AT&T.”

As the accused always say in matters like this, AT&T claims that they take the matter seriously. Apparently, they wouldn’t have taken it seriously unless someone had called them out on their antics. But such is the wireless industry these days.

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