Expert: DebiN - 11/17/2009

Question
I have been in touch with the Subpoena Compliance Department of US Cellular in order to request text records of the actual text message. The nice lady tells me that I can only get the last 3-5 days of actual text content. Is this true? And if so, then am I safe to assume the 3-5 day period would be from the time the subpoena is received by US Cellular and not the dates requested on the subpoena?

Answer
Yes, it is true. You are 100% safe to assume that someone with a subpoena can only obtain the last 3-5 days of actual text content. There is no guarantee that they will even be able to get that much, but typically, that is about right. US Cellular and the other carriers are not required to keep ANY text message content after it is delivered to the subscriber, but based upon the size of their servers, the amount of texts sent and received, it is safe to assume that only a couple of days will be available and then, only with a subpoena. So, that should tell people that if you are planning to subpoena texts for a court case, you will most likely not get what you are looking for because how often can you get a subpoena in time to get the records you are looking for, when most people in divorce cases, for example, want to get records from months or even years ago. It is NOT possible, I can assure you of that. You can get the records back much further, but never the actual content. I'm very glad to hear that you were told the truth by US Cellular. That 3-5 day period is what they have available and it has nothing to do with the date of the subpoena. She was indicating that as of today, you can only go back 3-5 days. So if the subpoena date was the 20th and it is received on the 25th and asks for records, it will only be able to get records back to typically the 22nd and perhaps back to the 20th. I hope this helps. Thanks. DebiN