What are the FBI guidelines for obtaining carrier data?

In the criminal investigation process and evidence collection, law enforcement agencies are using authorities’ women’s disguise or court orders to obtain data such as smartphone location information from telecommunication operators. According to reports, it has obtained guidelines for obtaining data from carriers created by the FBI.

According to the report, the presentation was prepared by the 2019 FBI Cellular Analysis Survey Team (CAST) team obtained through a public claim by the Property of the People, a nonprofit that aims to improve transparency by obtaining government documents. CAST is a place that supports not only the FBI, but also state and local law enforcement agencies by performing call data or base station analysis. Activities include collecting data on the location of a smartphone at a specific time from a telecommunication service provider, providing expert testimony, and providing information that the base station actually covers. range surveys, etc.

The document created by CAST describes a legal process called a court order or search warrant to obtain data from a telecom operator, or the procedure for operating CAST’s own mobile phone data visualization tool (CASTViz). The tool is a tool that quickly plots call details or base station data to investigate incidents, and is said to be provided free of charge by CAST to law enforcement agencies across the country.

An American Human Rights Association official points out that there are questions about what processes are built into the tool and what errors are likely to occur. In addition, the document created by CAST adds that maps or analyzes generated by this tool should not be brought into court unless their accuracy has been verified, and that testimony must be conducted by a qualified expert.

In addition, among the documents, the method of requesting data from an MVNO that does not have its own line, the method of obtaining prepaid portable location information that is disposable and not requiring a contract, and the method of obtaining information from the General Motors automobile system OnStar It is also said to have been recorded.

In the CAST document, it is said that the types of data that can be acquired from mobile carriers such as AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, Verizon, and US Cellular and the period for retaining each data are also described.

AT&T keeps call details, base stations, and data on cell phones within range for 7 years, T-Mobile keeps similar data for 2 years, Sprint keeps it for 18 months, and Verizon and US Cellular keep it for 1 year. Accordingly, he points out that AT&T has a particularly long retention period, and points out that keeping it for such a long time is unthinkable for business reasons.

It is also recorded that AT&T retains Internet and web browsing data for one year. When we inquired about AT&T exactly what the Internet and web browsing meant, it said that the company’s response was in accordance with the law and did not provide details.

Another section of the document explains that AT&T does not verify data accuracy, so law enforcement should use data with caution, and Verizon also explains that there are new location tools available to law enforcement agencies. Verizon said the new geolocation tool would be used by its Vend team on legal warrants or emergency requests and used to resolve cases. The tool, common in the industry, uses network-based base station location information, and other major vendors have similar approaches. method was said to be used. Related information can be found here.