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Tech NewsT-Mobile Says That Getting Sued for Selling Users’ Location Data Violates Its Terms of Service
T-Mobile screwed over millions of customers when it collected their geolocation data and sold it to third parties without their consent. Now, two of these customers are trying to pursue a class-action lawsuit against the company for the shady practice, but the telecom giant is using another shady practice to force them to settle their … Continued
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Tech NewsT-Mobile and Sprint May Offload $6 Billion in Assets to Dish As Part of Merger Deal With DOJ
Dish Network Corp. is “in talks” to buy up assets that T-Mobile and Sprint are planning to sell off in order to have their terrible merger approved by antitrust authorities, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday. Sources familiar with the discussions told Bloomberg that Dish may announce a deal to buy up “assets including wireless spectrum and … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech NewsState Attorneys General Will Sue to Stop Sprint and T-Mobile Merger: Report
It’s been one year since T-Mobile announced its intention to buy Sprint for $26 billion and, despite some scrutiny, the mega-merger has trudged forward at pace, save a few hiccups. That might have something to do with the lobbying blitz the companies embarked on a year ago. Now the two telecom giants face a new … Continued
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Tech NewsSprint Drove Me to a Dumpster in Texas to Show Me the Future
The experience of using a 5G phone for the first time is a bit anticlimactic, if I’m being honest. When I picked up an LG V50 ThinQ running on Sprint’s hours-old 5G network in Dallas on Wednesday, an LG rep urged me to observe just how quickly YouTube videos would load. It was fast, no … Continued
By Dell Cameron -
Tech NewsTech PolicyT-Mobile and Sprint May Have to Create Fourth Competitor to Win Merger Approval
Right now, most estimates of a T-Mobile/Sprint merger getting approved say its a coin flip. That’s because while FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has given the deal his blessing, the Justice Department still hasn’t signed off. And according to a new report from Bloomberg that cites a source close to the matter, it seems the Justice … Continued
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Tech NewsGadgetsT-Mobile’s One Plan Becomes Magenta, Complicates Netflix Bonus
The U.S. government continues to mull over T-Mobile’s potential merger with Sprint, that hasn’t stopped T-Mobile from giving its most popular phone plan a new name and a few added benefits, but at the expense of a bit more complexity. Today, T-Mobile is introducing Magenta and Magenta Plus which looks to replace its existing T-Mobile … Continued
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Tech NewsDOJ Attorneys Reportedly Ready to Block T-Mobile/Sprint Merger
To literally no one’s surprise, the head of the Federal Communications Commission on Monday announced Monday that he’d recommend approving the merger of T-Mobile and Sprint. But it now looks as if the Justice Department’s own attorneys vehemently oppose the merger. Reuters reported Wednesday that the DOJ’s antitrust division has recommended filing a lawsuit to … Continued
By Dell Cameron -
Tech NewsPrivacy & SecurityPhone Companies Say They’ve (Mostly) Stopped Selling Your Location Data to Shady Middlemen
In a series of letters published by FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel on Thursday, representatives of T-Mobile, AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon all said they had ceased or significantly curtailed the sale of their customers’ location data to companies whose shady practices brought to light triggered alarms among privacy advocates and lawmakers on Capitol Hill. The companies … Continued
By Dell Cameron -
Tech NewsGadgetsT-Mobile’s Next Big Move Is… a Checking Account?
While it’s not quite a pivot, it seems more and more tech companies are straying out of their lane and into the finance world. T-Mobile has decided to join the collection of startups and legacy tech players that want to handle your banking with a new checking account product simply called T-Mobile Money. Of course, … Continued
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Tech NewsVerizon Cuts Online Upgrade and Activation Fees, Raises Its ‘Full Service’ In-Store Fee to $40
Verizon is upping the prices of in-store phone activations—though it’s also lowering the cost of ordering and activating phones using its app or online services, per CNET. While Verizon used to charge $30 for all upgrade and activation fees (a common industry practice, and one of the many ways carriers have introduced sneaky ways to … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech NewsAT&T’s Fastest Wireless Network Claim Is Not Entirely What It’s Cracked Up to Be [Updated]
AT&T’s claim that its “5G E” network—which is a regular 4G network boosted with some technical tricks, misleadingly rebranded as next-generation 5G—has helped make it the fastest carrier in the country doesn’t tell the whole story, the Verge reported on Wednesday. Last week, AT&T issued a press release bragging that 5G E had helped it … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech NewsPrivacy & SecurityFTC Orders Top Internet Providers to Reveal How They Collect Your Data and Why
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued orders to seven major broadband providers on Tuesday seeking wide-ranging information about how the companies collect and profit from the personal information of their American customers. The orders compel the disclosure of internal documents in what’s known as a 6(b) study, which also includes dozens of questions concerning the … Continued
By Dell Cameron -
Tech NewsTech Policy
Phone Companies Are Finally Doing Something About Our Robocall Hell
We live in a robocall hell with an epidemic of 26.3 billion fraudulent calls made to U.S. numbers in 2018. Tired of con artist robots, no one picks up the phone for strangers anymore. My voicemail is filled with Chinese-language scammers using my area code and telling me that I’m about to be deported. I … Continued
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Tech News
T-Mobile Admits It Spent $195,000 at Trump Hotel in DC While Feds Weighed Sprint Merger
T-Mobile is trying to merge with competitor Sprint in a hotly contested, $26 billion mega-deal that could be blocked by the Federal Communications Commission or the Department of Justice’s anti-trust division. T-Mobile has also spent $195,000 at a DC hotel operated by President Donald Trump, who has refused to divest himself from his business interests … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech NewsPrivacy & SecurityHuawei Now Just Trolling U.S. by Dredging Up Edward Snowden
“Prism, prism on the wall, who’s the most trustworthy of them all?” said Huawei’s rotating chairman Guo Ping on stage on Tuesday at Mobile World Congress 2019. But Guo wasn’t talking about Snow White. He was poking fun at the massive surveillance programs maintained by the United States. Huawei is under fire around the world … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech NewsTech Policy
T-Mobile CEO John Legere Sure Loves Trump’s Hotels Now, and Boy, What a Coincidence That Is
T-Mobile is still cruising towards a $26 billion merger with Sprint, a deal that would combine the third- and fourth-biggest wireless carriers in the U.S. into one massive company. And after the deal was announced in April 2018, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday, T-Mobile executives quickly grew fond of a D.C. hotel run by … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech NewsPrivacy & Security
Report: Feds Are Preparing Trade Theft Case Against Chinese Tech Giant Huawei
Federal prosecutors “are pursuing a criminal investigation” of Chinese tech giant Huawei for allegedly stealing the trade secrets of U.S. firms, with the case in part based on allegations raised in civil lawsuits, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. Investigators are particularly interested in a 2014 legal dispute between Huawei and T-Mobile—which resulted in … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech NewsThe Worst Pain in the World, Bendable Phones, and Joshua Tree: Best Gizmodo Stories of the Week
Ten hut, Gizmodo readers! Do you have a New Year’s Resolution you should be working on? Do not answer that rhetorical question, because yours are the feeble dreams of weaklings and mine is to whip this sorry, good-for-nothing blog audience squad into shape! ROLL CALL! Scroll on down and click those links! I don’t want to … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech NewsPrivacy & Security
House Committee Calls for Emergency FCC Briefing After Damning Report of Phone Location Data Abuse
Responding to reports this week of unlicensed use of consumer phone location data, House Democrats have moved to call for an emergency staff briefing with the Federal Communications Commission to gauge its progress on addressing an issue that first surfaced eight months ago. Earlier this week, Motherboard published the results of an undercover investigation, revealing … Continued
By Dell Cameron -
Tech NewsPrivacy & Security
Phone Companies Pinky Swear They’ll Stop Selling Your Location Data, For Real This Time
Last May, T-Mobile promised to stop selling its subscribers’ location data after reports surfaced that it was being funneled to law enforcement officers who’d otherwise need a warrant to get it. But that hasn’t happened so far. CEO John Legere on Thursday said that the delay was to protect consumers who rely on emergency services. … Continued
By Dell Cameron