DOJ Memo Reveals How Long Cell Carriers Retain Your Data

Cellphone carriers in the U.S. are holding onto sensitive data about their customers for a significant amount of time, according to a Department of Justice memo that compares the data retention policies of four of the country's largest carriers.

Looking at the policies of Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile, the memo reveals that while Verizon may be the worst offender for storing information in some respects—it keeps the IP Session and Destination information from your phone longer than the other carriers, as well as storing your text messages for five days (other carriers don't store the content of messages at all)—it's also the carrier that retains a list of your text recipients for the shortest amount of time (one year, compared with 18 months for Sprint, up to five years for T-Mobile and up to seven years for AT&T).   Read More

Posted in: Technology