Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Report reveals 1.3 million requests for cell phone subscriber information in 2011

Rep. Ed Markey
For those who have assumed that requests for subscriber information from phone companies were minimal and that there was often no charge, a release of reports today shows just how pervasive and expensive these activities are. In July, Congressman Edward Markey (D-Mass.) requested figures from nine cell phone companies and revealed the information today.

Markey, first elected to the House in 1976, said of the findings, "We cannot allow privacy protections to be swept aside with the sweeping nature of these information requests, especially for innocent consumers."

In all, law enforcement made 1.3 million requests in 2011. Sprint estimates that it received 500,000 subpoenas in 2011 and has performed over 50,000 wiretaps in the last five years.

AT&T received over 260,000 requests last year including nearly 50,000 2703(d) orders and search warrants. The company has more than 100 full-time employees fulfilling these requests and charged over $8 million in 2011 alone.

The largest mobile phone provider in the country, Verizon, also received about 260,000 requests in 2011, about half from subpoenas. They claim that requests have grown about 15% per year over the past five years. Verizon has 70 employees working around the clock to meet law enforcement's demands.

The New York Times notes these figures may be severely underestimated in terms of requests and the number of subscribers involved:
Because of incomplete record-keeping, the total number of law enforcement requests last year was almost certainly much higher than the 1.3 million the carriers reported to Mr. Markey. Also, the total number of people whose customer information was turned over could be several times higher than the number of requests because a single request often involves multiple callers. For instance, when a police agency asks for a cell tower “dump” for data on subscribers who were near a tower during a certain period of time, it may get back hundreds or even thousands of names.
Full responses from the providers can be viewed on Congressman Markey's website.

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