U.S. Lawmaker Uneasy About AT&T, Verizon Gathering Mobile Data

A lawmaker expressed “uneasiness” about how data collected by top U.S. wireless carriers AT&T Inc. (T) and Verizon Wireless may be used by other companies.

“Third-party developers can access the location of customers anytime they want,” Representative Joe Barton, a Texas Republican, said in a news release. “This is a huge problem. They shouldn’t have free reign over your location data and personally identifiable information.”

Barton and Representative Ed Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, co-chairmen of the House Bi-Partisan Privacy Caucus, released letters from wireless carriers including AT&T, Verizon,Sprint Nextel Corp. (S), and T-Mobile USA Inc. responding to questions about how they collect, store and use customer data.

Apple Inc. (AAPL) and Google Inc. (GOOG) also were among six companies that lawmakers asked to provide information on tracking, storing and sharing user locations to determine whether their products breach privacy rules. Five lawmakers in letters April 25 asked the companies if they store location data, who can access it and whether it’s transmitted through third parties.

Apple said yesterday it isn’t tracking customers’ locations while acknowledging it gathers information about wireless gear near a user’s handset. The iPhone saves information on Wi-Fi hot spots and cellular towers near the device’s location and accesses the data when users need it, Apple said.

Europe’s Privacy Rules

Regulators in Germany, France and Italy said last week they are checking whether Apple’s iPhone and iPad products violate privacy rules by tracking, storing and sharing data about the locations of users. Irish officials also are examining complaints on the issue.

U.S. Senator Al Franken, a Minnesota Democrat, invited Apple and Google executives to a May 10 Judiciary subcommittee hearing on mobile-device privacy.

Senator Jay Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat who is chairman of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, said today he also plans to hold a hearing on the topic in May.