NataliaLA
12-04-2012, 03:30 PM
Cops Ask Congress for Your Text Messages.
Law enforcement groups have asked Congress to mandate that cell phone companies store data from Americans’ text messages for at least two years.
Think texting is private, always and forever? You may want to think again.
Law enforcement authorities are asking Congress to mandate that cell phone companies record and store data from Americans’ text messages for at least two years, according to a report on the tech media site CNET. In recent years, the use of cell phone data in criminal cases has increased, and now law enforcement wants cell phone companies to be required to retain that data.
The groups asking Congress include the Major Cities Chiefs Police Association, which represents the biggest police forces in the U.S., the National District Attorneys’ Association and more. Civil liberties groups have come out to oppose the idea. Law enforcement groups claim that the lack of a retention requirement for cell phone data hinders criminal investigations. As Congress debates updates to a 1986 privacy law, these questions are coming to the fore.
“We would oppose any mandatory data retention mandate as part of ECPA reform," one American Civil Liberties Union staffer, Christopher Calabrese, told CNET.
The use of text message data by law enforcement has skyrocketed in recent years. CNET notes that “in one 2009 case in Michigan, wireless provider SkyTel turned over the contents of 626,638 SMS messages, a figure described by a federal judge as ‘staggering.’”
The legislative ask comes as a raging judicial debate has taken place around the country about the legality of the use of cell phone data in criminal prosecutions. A recent New York Times review of court cases and legislation shows that there are no uniform rules when it comes to whether law enforcement can search cell phone records and use the data as evidence.
Read more: http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/cops-ask-congress-your-text-messages
Law enforcement groups have asked Congress to mandate that cell phone companies store data from Americans’ text messages for at least two years.
Think texting is private, always and forever? You may want to think again.
Law enforcement authorities are asking Congress to mandate that cell phone companies record and store data from Americans’ text messages for at least two years, according to a report on the tech media site CNET. In recent years, the use of cell phone data in criminal cases has increased, and now law enforcement wants cell phone companies to be required to retain that data.
The groups asking Congress include the Major Cities Chiefs Police Association, which represents the biggest police forces in the U.S., the National District Attorneys’ Association and more. Civil liberties groups have come out to oppose the idea. Law enforcement groups claim that the lack of a retention requirement for cell phone data hinders criminal investigations. As Congress debates updates to a 1986 privacy law, these questions are coming to the fore.
“We would oppose any mandatory data retention mandate as part of ECPA reform," one American Civil Liberties Union staffer, Christopher Calabrese, told CNET.
The use of text message data by law enforcement has skyrocketed in recent years. CNET notes that “in one 2009 case in Michigan, wireless provider SkyTel turned over the contents of 626,638 SMS messages, a figure described by a federal judge as ‘staggering.’”
The legislative ask comes as a raging judicial debate has taken place around the country about the legality of the use of cell phone data in criminal prosecutions. A recent New York Times review of court cases and legislation shows that there are no uniform rules when it comes to whether law enforcement can search cell phone records and use the data as evidence.
Read more: http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/cops-ask-congress-your-text-messages