Computers are really the thing that make aggregate petty injustice a workable business model, because doing any computation millions of times with humans would cost far too much. This is one reason why dealing with the problem is actually a hacker/programmer moral imperative.
The last piece of the puzzle is why the FTC, SEC, etc. are so ineffective. These are the police of big business. Why are the police of individuals so harsh and powerful, but the police of business so weak and ineffective? I think it has to do with the politics of ignorance. There is no political pressure on the FTC to do it's job; it's too far removed from any elected official. No-one is going to pick the next president based on who they appoint as FTC chairman. One of the reasons is that the country is divided on regulation itself, which means that a large fraction of people, even the victims of petty injustice, would prefer that Verizon simply get away with it. These are the same people who would interpret a harsher penalty as an "anti-business" Obama/Democrat move, instead of simple enforcement of the law.
It's the 21st century and I think it's time that we enumerated some new rights in the face of unprecedented assaults on our freedoms. There needs to be the equivalent of a "fiduciary responsibility" for communications companies. People should not be allowed to give away their legal rights (the right to file class-action lawsuits). The justice system needs to be reformed, with technology and simplifying policies, to make it much faster and much much cheaper. (Not quite related to this case, but our personal devices that represent a very real extension of our minds should be absolutely protected from intrusion.)