Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Cell Carriers Responded Last Year To 1.3M Law Enforcement Data Requests

Posted by timothy on from the surely-it's-because-the-requests-were-well-formatted dept.

Stirling Newberry writes "The New York Times reports: 'In the first public accounting of its kind, cellphone carriers reported that they responded to a daunting 1.3 million demands for subscriber data last year from law enforcement agencies seeking text messages, caller locations and other information in the course of investigations.' One stinging statistic: AT&T responds to an average of 700 requests per day, and turns down only 18 per week. Sprint gets 500,000 requests per year. While many requests are backed by court orders, most are not. Some include 'dumps' of tower data, which captures everyone near by at a certain time."

6 of 155 comments (clear)

  1. More lousy editing. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    230 per hour is 2 million requests a year. Obviously its wrong, if all the carriers handle 1.3 million per year. Per the article, it is 230 "Emergency" requests per day, with 720 Lawful (Subpoena, court order, etc).

    Not to mention its a partial article, "This article has been truncated pending paywall integration."

    Hate to say it, /. quality is seriously starting to flounder.

    1. Re:More lousy editing. by Stirling+Newberry · · Score: 2, Informative

      Yes, my fingers typed hour when my brain meant day. My error.

      --
      Fugue for Aaron Swartz
  2. Strange math by nospam007 · · Score: 3, Informative

    "...they responded to a daunting 1.3 million demands for subscriber data...' One stinging statistic: AT&T gets 230 requests for data per hour, and turns down only 18 per week. "

    So if AT&T alone gets over 2 million, where the heck does the 1.3 million come from?

    ((24 * 365) * 230) - (18 * 52) = 2 013 864

    1. Re:Strange math by Bob9113 · · Score: 5, Informative

      ...they responded to a daunting 1.3 million demands for subscriber data...' One stinging statistic: AT&T gets 230 requests for data per hour, and turns down only 18 per week.

      The summary is mistaken. From the article:

      AT&T alone now responds to an average of more than 700 requests a day, with about 230 of them regarded as emergencies that do not require the normal court orders and subpoena.

      --
      Stop-Prism.org: Opt Out of Surveillance
  3. Many and Most by BondGamer · · Score: 4, Informative

    How can many have court orders but most do not? Shouldn't it be some and most? I went to read the article to find the answer and was not shocked to find out the summery is misleading. Of the 700 requests per day, 230 were without court order or about 33%. A lot less than "most".

  4. What is a court order? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    The question may sound a bit naive, but what is a court order other than a form of routine rubberstamping by some low paid pot-bellied DMV style clerk?