Pai: FCC to Wrap Up Location Data Investigation by January

FCC chair Ajit Pai says that the Enforcement Bureau's investigation into carriers' selling of user's location data should be wrapped up by the end of January. 

That came in an e-mail from Pai to House Communications Subcommittee chairman Mike Doyle (D-Pa.), who shared that info during an FCC oversight hearing in his subcommittee Thursday (Dec. 5) while calling for the results ASAP. 

Rep. Mike Doyle

Rep. Mike Doyle

It has been a year and a half since reports surfaced that wireless carriers were selling the geolocation data of their subs to third parties. 

The FCC is investigating the selling by wireless carriers of geolocation data to third parties, information that reportedly made its way to bounty hunters and others and data their subs can't opt out of because it is used to provide the underlying service. 

Related: Starks Pushes For Completion of Data Location Investigation 

At the hearing, commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel expressed her frustration with the pace of the investigation and with what she said was the chairman's refusal to share documents related to the investigation. 

The major mobile wireless providers have told Rosenworcel that they have terminated their location aggregators program. 

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.