A subscriber of bundled CenturyLink broadband and DirecTV satellite TV has sued the respective providers in a Seattle federal court for allegedly exposing customer data to the open internet.
According to GeekWire, James Santos, a resident of King County, Washington, is seeking class-action status for his complaint. He alleged that he found his March 2017 CenturyLink bill and all of his private information while conducting a simple Google search. Santos said subsequent searches outside his IP address revealed the same breach.
The suit names CenturyLink and AT&T, which has a deal with the former telecom provider to let it bundle DirecTV satellite TV service with broadband.
According to the suit, Santos alerted CenturyLink, and the operator acknowledged that the information was viewable on the open internet.
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CenturyLink has not yet commented. AT&T said it’s reviewing the complaint, but noted that the information Santos saw came from CenturyLink.
However, Santos claims that DirecTV “failed to take such actions as are necessary to prevent unauthorized access to such information by a person other than the subscriber or satellite carrier.”
Santos is alleging a violation of Section 338 of the Communications Act, which says satellite TV carriers can’t disclose customer information without written consent.