The Federal Communications Commission is preparing to fine four U.S. cellphone carriers a total of $200 million for selling user location data to third parties, Reuters reported today.

People familiar with the matter said the companies that will be hit with the fine are Verizon Communications Inc., AT&T Inc., Sprint Corp. and T-Mobile US Inc.

In 2018, an investigation revealed while location data of phones is used for things such as giving a user roadside assistance or to alert medical services, it had also been abused. The location data got in the hands of middlemen, who then sold that data on.

Some U.S. politicians pointed out at the time that this impinged on American people’s privacy and could potentially create a worrying surveillance state. Other investigations showed how bounty hunters or any kind of sketchy character could pay one of those middleman as little as $300 and get a location of a person.

The fallout from this was carriers one-by-one ending their relationships with aggregators and somewhat apologizing for what had happened. For some, this came too late, with critics stating that it was frightening what the black market could have done with the information.

One of the biggest critics when the investigations were first revealed was Democratic Senator Ron Wyden, who said the selling of this data “needlessly exposes millions of Americans to potential abuse and surveillance by the government.”

For him the action taken has been slow. Speaking today about FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, Wyden said he “failed to protect American consumers at every stage of the game – this issue only came to light after my office and dedicated journalists discovered how wireless companies shared Americans’ locations willy nilly.”

Wyden didn’t stop there, and in no uncertain terms lambasted Pai for his response to those companies breaking federal law. Wyden said Pai “only investigated after public pressure mounted. And now his response is a set of comically inadequate fines that won’t stop phone companies from abusing Americans’ privacy the next time they can make a quick buck.”

None of the carriers has made a statement yet, but reports are saying that T-Mobile will be hit with the biggest fine.

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