Expert: Philip Sweeting - 5/14/2006

Question
I know that on the state level, the requirements that need to be met by Law Enforcement for phone records requests vary, but my question is aimed at the Federal level.

Is there any set court action required for a federal law enforcement agent to request the phone records of an individual?  If so any idea where I can find the relevent information on the relevent statutes and legal cases?

Answer
The first requirement in either state or federal is that you are the subject of a criminal investigation. In other words the police cannot get phone records unless you are a suspect in a crime and your phone records may be evidence. Then it is relatively easy to get a court order to reqiire your phone records be given to the authorities.

But there is nothing to keep your phone company from voluntarily turning over your phone records to the authorities like what has been in the news recently. Generally no private company will give up their records to the police without a court order. Hope this helps.