Are the contents of text messages logged?

Asked by elbanditoroso (33170

) October 14th, 2012

They are stored, of course, on the smartphone or tablet of the sender and the receiver.

But does Verizon (or Cingular or Sprint or whoever) keep and log them? If I sent a text message to a friend 5 years ago asking them to pick up some pizza on his way over, is that message stored and retrievable in 2012?

Would the cell companies tell us either way?

Observing members: 0

Composing members: 0

6 Answers

I believe so, because I’ve often heard of criminal cases in which the police had access to text messages in the pursuit of crime. I can only assume the police obtain the data from the cellphone carrier.

How long they’re kept and how retrievable they’d be after years, I wouldn’t know.

downtide (23815

)“Great Answer” (0

) Flag as…

I’ve heard that they have. I forget why, but I’ve heard they are. I don’t remember why, but I’ve heard that they are. Something about keeping records for something.

GracieT (7393

)“Great Answer” (0

) Flag as…

Patriot act yes also used in dv issues. I have never tried to obtain records from the company but it wouldn’t hurt to ask… and please let us know.. but 5 years seems like a long time.. trying conceive how many hundreds of texts I send and receive each month and then multiply that by 60… ouch. And that is just me

Unbroken (10746

)“Great Answer” (1

) Flag as…

I agree that 5 years would be too long. I know people who live their whole life on the phone texting. They practically write novels. They probably keep it for a year or so and then wipe it out. I wish I had a penny for everytime someone LOL, or OMG. I would be richer than Bill Gates and Oprah Winfrey combined.

Pandora (32211

)“Great Answer” (1

) Flag as…

Response moderated (Spam)