Law enforcement is pushing Congress to force cell carriers to store text messages for two years. Currently AT&T and T-Mobile delete them immediately, Verizon keeps them five days. The proposal would let police access any texts with a court order, but critics worry about privacy and who else might get access.
Chapters
Well, a word of warning: the private text messages you send to your friends and family may soon be stored for 2 years. It's a controversial idea that may soon become reality. It's those simple messages to friends, family, co-workers, many of which you wouldn't want anyone else to read. But several national associations that represent law enforcement are pushing Congress to make your cell phone carriers store your text messages for 2 years just in case police need it later on.
One more step into just total control into our lives.
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.
Under the new proposal, that could all change. 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 gonna cost them money, and more than likely they're gonna pass that cost on to the consumer.
Proponents say it's nothing new. With court orders, law enforcement can already get access to anything that's available from phone records to emails. The problem is text messages aren't recorded on servers like your email.
I consider that private, and a text message to another person, the only people that should be involved is you and the other party.
There's really no privacy anymore, no matter 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 how much access police will have.
