Expert: DebiN - 11/4/2009

Question
I have been told several things about the content retrieval of text messages...that if you acquire a subpoena or if law enforcement is involved, then the content of your messages can be retrieved up to a year after the message is archived. I have also been told that it is only able to be retrieved within 30 days after being sent. Are either of these statements true?

Answer
Unfortunately, even with a subpoena, you cannot retrieve the content of text messages after they have been purged from your carrier's servers and absolutely no carrier retains text content for a year. The carriers are not required by law to retain any text content, so they retain it only so long as the servers allow, which these days is typically only a few days. They retain for 30 days, text messages that have not been delivered, but after 30 days, if the recipient has not turned on their phone so that the message can be received, they purge that unread message (that is what the 30 days is all about). Don't let anyone tell you that you can retrieve message content, because you can't. In days gone by, you could, because there weren't as many people sending messages and the servers did not get filled up as quickly so message content was available for longer than it is now. So understand that the carriers are only required by law to retain the records of the messages, not the content and therefore, they do not retain content since storage space costs money and if you are not required by law to retain, you don't. Some day, this may change, but for now, there is not one carrier out there who retains text messages that have been sent or received for any specified length of time and with a subpoena you may or may not get content, and if you do, you will be lucky to get a couple of days back and that's about it. A subpoena to get text messages is a waste of time and money and most courts today are making text message content inadmissible in courts of law anyway. Once a text message has been deleted, it is gone. I hope this helps. Thanks. DebiN