Cybersecurity Policy Report, FCC Asks Court to Reject AT&T’s Arguments in Privacy Case, (Sep 25, 2026)

By Paul Kirby

The FCC said in a court brief that an appeals court should reject AT&T, Inc.’s argument that it was misled into paying a $57.2 million forfeiture in a customer proprietary network information (CPNI) case.

“AT&T’s argument that the government affirmatively misled it into paying the forfeiture before any Section 504(a) enforcement suit has been waived and is in any event meritless,” the FCC said in AT&T, Inc., v. Federal Communications Commission and United States of America, No. 24-60223 (5th Cir. Sept. 23, 2026).

“AT&T never made this argument until its Supreme Court reply brief, and so the argument has been waived—as the Supreme Court’s treatment of the Verizon case confirms,” the FCC added. “The argument is also baseless. The Commission did not mislead AT&T; on the contrary, paragraph 69 of the Order specifically advised AT&T no fewer than four times that ‘AT&T is entitled to a trial de novo in federal district court before it can be required to pay the forfeiture.’ Order ¶ 69 (ER30). AT&T’s attempt to rely instead on boilerplate language in the ordering clauses misreads that language, as the Supreme Court has already explained.”

The FCC also argued that “AT&T … identifies no legal authority permitting the Court to grant its alternative request (Supp. Br. 34–36) that the government be ordered to refund its forfeiture payment even if there is no basis to vacate the Order.”

In June, the Supreme Court, in an 8-1 decision, upheld FCC forfeiture orders against AT&T and Verizon Communications, Inc., for violating CPNI protections by providing location data to third parties without customers’ consent (CPR, June 4).

The high court remanded to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (New Orleans) the lower court’s grant of AT&T’s petition for review and vacating of the Commission’s order.

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