Verizon is the Only Telecom that Retains Text Message Content

Thursday, September 29, 2011
If you want to keep your text messages completely private, and out of the hands of law enforcement, then Verizon is not the provider for you.
 
According to a confidential U.S. Department of Justice document (obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union) from last year, Verizon is the only major cell phone company (among AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile) that stores every customer’s text messages for at least five days. None of the other companies keep such data for any length of time.
 
T-Mobile stores information on whom a person exchanges text messages with for up to five years. Sprint does it for 18 months and AT&T seven years. Verizon keeps its lists for only one year.
 
Verizon also leads in the length of times it retains IP session information (what web sites a person visits).
 
All of the big four telecoms keep records for at least a year of which cell phone towers people access.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
 

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