The records kept by wireless phone companies about the use of cell phones are immense and very detailed. Wireless companies keep records about when and where a phone call is made, when text messages are sent and received, and when data is transferred.
Obtaining Phone Records: Subpoena or Account Holder Request
All of this phone activity data is available if you ask the wireless phone company to provide it to you, and you are still within the window of time that they keep their records. Unlike many other records, wireless phone records or call detail records (CDR), are not protected by the Stored Communications Act and are not protected by the Fourth Amendment. They can be obtained via subpoena or by request of the account holder via a notarized letter.
What do Cell Phone Records Show?
Cell phone records, otherwise known as “Call Detail Records”, show the caller’s phone number, duration of call, start and end time of the call, and the cell phone tower the phone was connected to. Text message meta data is also attainable, but the actual contents of the messages are not in the CDRs.
Additionally, a call detail record will provide all call attempts whether they connected or not. The cell tower, and therefore location, is only available upon request for each connected phone call.
Text messaging is also shown in the call detail records, however, the content of the messages are not. To get the contents, a request must be made to the cell phone company within days of the incident. However, not all messages are what cell phone companies consider text messages. iMessage, for example, uses end-to-end encryption and a data/WiFi connection to send and receive instead of SMS. It is what Apple to Apple devices use and it falls back to SMS if iMessage isn’t available. Because of these alternative systems, cell phone companies don’t actually have information on these messages. At the end of the day, it is incoming and outgoing data (like loading a webpage or YouTube video) and not actually a text message.
So, does Apple have access to the contents of the messages? Not really. They have an encrypted version without the ability to decrypt it. Only the recipient’s phone/device can decrypt it (end-to-end encryption). That is why Apple doesn’t/can’t comply in federal and local government subpoenas.
Phone Bills vs Call Detail Records
In the many investigations we perform, the cell phone device is missing for myriad reasons, leaving any evidence of phone usage to be gleaned from the wireless phone company records. These records are known as call detail records and they are different from phone bills.
A phone bill is only accurate to the minute since the majority of wireless phone companies bill to the next full minute. This means that a phone call that lasts 15 seconds would show 1 minute on a phone bill. A call that lasts one minute and one second will show as two minutes on a phone bill. Also, a phone bill is only going to give you evidence of billable activity. Billable activity does not include outgoing calls that did not connect to another phone, and may not include outgoing calls that connect to another phone’s voicemail.
Interpreting the Data
The call detail records can contain multiple types of records, including voice, text messaging and data transmission activity. The biggest mistake we see in the interpretation of this activity is that data transmissions are the result of user activity. Our firm worked a trucking accident case where the opposing expert was a 20-year veteran homicide detective who advised counsel that data transmissions indicated the truck driver was using his phone at the time of the accident. However, once we explained that data transmissions occur all the time, whether the phone is being used by the person or not, and that it is impossible to determine what kind of data is being transferred, the opposing party dropped the case.
Voice calls are an indication of phone usage by the driver, however, whether or not the phone is being used hands free is impossible to determine from a record. Also, if the incoming call is answered by voicemail can be determined from the call detail record, where on some phone bills, this would not be indicated.
Text messaging is shown in call detail records. However, the content of text messages is not. To get the content of text messages, a request must be made to the phone company within days of the incident. Another misinterpretation that comes up in many of the distracted driving cases we do is that incoming text messages are an indication of user activity. It is impossible to tell from a phone record that incoming text messages are being read by the person with the phone. Outgoing text messages can be an indication that the phone is being used at the time the message is sent, but this is not an absolute as some applications can send message replies automatically if a person’s phone is moving in a car or truck.
Cell Phone Records Used in Court
Location information stored in call detail records can be used to determine if a phone is near a particular place. For instance, in insurance cases, it may be important to know if someone is near a location when a fire started. Call detail records can allow an expert to determine of the phone was in the general area near the time of the fire, or other incident. We have used this information in cases involving fires, explosions, and hit-and-run auto accidents. In one case we handled, the insured driver in a hit-and-run case claimed to be in Atlanta, Georgia, at the time of the accident that occurred in Birmingham, Alabama. The driver’s call detail records clearly showed the phone near the location of the hit-and-run at the time of the accident.
To get a complete picture of what happened in many cases, getting the call detail records from the wireless phone company is critical.
Comments 19
My wife is a very smart woman but I showed her that in everything a man is always a man well I suspected she was hiding a lot from me, she has a mac-book Pro she uses and also a Samsung phone I noticed she was cheating on me so I had to hack her phone but I found out that nothing was on her phone so I also hacked into her mac-book. I could not believe all that I saw on her laptop she had all her major text messages on her mac-book, and she used WhatsApp on her laptop also I found out that she was in a relationship with my friend who I call my brother I had full access to her mac-book and also read all there messages and so many they always hang out at a hotel on Sundays… All I saw was too much for me to keep to myself. and also a very big thank you to the hacker who made it possible to be an ethical hacker.
Irresistible! Thank you so much for this kind and good service.your services is better than better.
If someone committes a crime other than me ,and my phone records are avaible to the court can it show my exact phone location .Other than a 25 mile radiacal ,
Well I know my husband is in jail and I know it’s one thing that we’re all subjected to somebody listening to your calls on the jail phones this lady is now saying she has evidence of whatever you but I’m not in any kind of criminal case I am not involved at all I feel so freaking violated this lady said she has all these phone records I like that’s funny my husband doesn’t call you from my but his bracelet he calls me from other people’s bracelet and my T-Mobile account and she said she had records up until three weeks ago on my T-Mobile account that they canceled it three weeks ago for fraud for somebody breaking into it this person broke they broke into my phone calls are using it I don’t think that’s legal is it legal I know it’s not I feel so violated you can’t use my personal records he has no right to go in my my business it’s one thing to go in his but not mine
I need sms/text messages from Visible wireless but they are telling me they cannot release those because of their privacy policy. How do I obtain these records. I need these records to prove to my employer that I was not using my phone at the time of my accident therefore to get my job back. What is the procedure to get these records. Subpoena?
My IT lady was working on my cell phone for $25/hour. She found and incoming video that she considered inappropriate for a young lady to send me. She used this as an excuse to go the girl’s mother, without my knowledge or permission, to start a series of allegations very harmful to me and my family. All of the allegations are lies.
When the video was viewed by a third party, it was determined that the video was very appropriate in the context that it was used. Do I have a legal recourse against the IT lady?
How do I get phone records and iMessage records
I took a notarize letter to my wireless phone company asking them to release my phone records and they denied my request.
Do they only see phone calls and messages
Can a phone record actually show 3 people on the same time? That there is active communication taking place? Also if 2 people are talking on the phone and the caller says hold on and makes a call and has conversation will that be considered a conference call because it’s 3 people on that line?
I purchased a phone from Cricket store in Oswego New York. I had been catfished from gentleman that work there everything to be at a woman. What can I do here is there some kind of customer privacy. I felt violated and I want to know what my rights are here. Is it grounds for suing? There’s more detail to this if you could respond to me we can further communicate about the situation.
Subpoenas & Search Warrants. I filed a Motion for Subpoena for the defendants professional / cell phone #’s, carrier, as well as professional and personal emails / internet carriers. The defendants freaked out and filed a Motion to Quash and Protective Order. The subpoenas are legal, and are not for harassment, annoyance or burdensome. They are very relevant to prove the defendants conspired w/ my former atty and a federal agency to commit fraud on the courts (against me, they conspired to commit every type of perjury on the books even suborn perjury) and on the federal govt into the $Millions. I know I have to file a response, but how do I get a search warrant to review their records. I don’t want the court to review them because the defendants are connected to the judges…who are also part of the fraud…failing to recuse themselves for blatant conflict of interest and ignoring our laws and violating our Constitutional right to due process. How do I proceed, I have a couple of cell phone #’s and business numbers and carriers. Do I file another Subpoena w/ a Search Warrant? I haven’t asked for the defendants to present it in court, I’ve requested they give the Constables access to their records, etc. Which everything is a part of their every day activities as a business.
Going to court for mediation change I filed a motion for contempt of court because he has not let me seen or talk to my daughter in four years I tried to contact him multiple times and no response so I need records that I have called and texted multiple times over the years I have the 2 to 3 phone numbers that have that I have texted or called several hundreds of times trying toContact him and he responded to my motion that I have not how can I get my records from my cell phone company they say they can only go back three months and the two previous numbers are owned by new customers
CAN A COUNTY AAORNEY OR PROSECTOR SUBPOENA MY PHONE RECORT WITHOUT MY CONSENT
How can I get my phone records I really need them I am being harassed I will pay for the rexords
i have question
Yes that is possible you are able to contact your service provider anything deleted on your phone can be gotten from them
My x friend called me hundreds of times, I deleted, can they be used in court for a harassments case?
Thanks for helping me understand that there are instances that a call detail will be able to locate where the cellphone was during the time of an incident. I guess that is important to determine who can be the culprit or who can be a witness as well. I just got curious about this now that we are lacking evidence as to why our storage house caught fire last weekend since everything was burned down. There might be someone who could be responsible for this, and this process can help.