This content was created by Robert Siciliano. This content was uploaded by Robert Siciliano. This is a YouTube video titled "Government Wants Carriers To Store Texts For 2 Years @McAfeeConsumer" (Fox 25 news segment) published December 8, 2012. The clip features reporter Ted Daniel explaining efforts by law enforcement groups to lobby Congress to require cell carriers to store text messages for up to two years, discusses current carrier retention practices (e.g., AT&T/T‑Mobile discard immediately, Verizon ~5 days, Sprint ~12 days), and notes privacy, cost, and warrant/access concerns. It includes commentary from Robert Siciliano, identified as a Boston‑based online security expert for McAfee, plus brief vox‑pop public reactions. The segment also references ongoing revisions to the Electronic Communications Privacy Act.
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Your private texts, what you send to your friends, your family, could soon be sent to storage courtesy of your phone company, just in case police want to take a look. It's a controversial idea for sure. Fox 25's Ted Daniel here now to explain. Ted. Hi, Mark. Text messages are being used more and more in criminal investigations, and police want greater access to them. Several national organizations that represent cops and prosecutors are lobbying Congress to change federal privacy laws. They want cell phone carriers to store texts for for 2 years, just in case the info is needed in a criminal investigation. An estimated 6 billion texts are sent in the United States every single day. How long the actual message is stored depends on the carrier. According to a report in Wired magazine, AT&T and T-Mobile discard messages immediately. Verizon keeps them 5 days, Sprint 12. That could all change, though, if local and state police have their way. They want Congress to pass a law requiring cell phone companies to to keep text info for 2 years.
Consumers probably are unaware that their text messages are even sought after by government officials, uh, never mind for 2 years.
Robert Siciliano is a Boston-based online security expert for McAfee. He says privacy is one issue, the cost another.
Companies like AT&T and Verizon would have to hold our data in their system for up to 2 years, and their employees would also have access to that information as well. This is government regulating how they store data, and it's going to cost them money, and more than likely they're going pass that cost on to the consumer.
And this is important. Right now, police do not need a warrant to access your cell phone records. In most cases, the carriers simply hand the information over.
That's really personal. Like, what's— there's nothing personal anymore in the United States. That's crazy. That's ridiculous.
There's really no privacy anymore, no matter, you know, if they tell you or they don't tell you at all. They're going to do it regardless. It's clear the way we communicate has changed.
It will be up to Congress to decide just how much access police will have. So the law enforcement groups lobbying for this have not said publicly yet whether they want the entire message saved or just the timestamp with who sent it and who received it. Congress is currently working on revamping the Electronic Communications Privacy Act. That law was passed in 1986. Obviously, a lot has changed since then. I'm Ted Daniel, Fox 25 News.
