
Verizon says it received over 321,000 legal orders for user data in 2013 - nacs
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/01/verizon-says-it-received-over-321000-legal-orders-for-user-data-in-2013/
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Shivetya
Are they reimbursed for these? If so how much? I am curious if its a money
making process for them or if the costs are just rolled into "the cost of
doing business"

Still the numbers are beyond phenomenal, bordering on insane. Just how does
one go about validating that all these request are remotely legal, let alone
how does one go about generating so many requests!

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nacs
Yes the providers usually have a contract based fee that they charge for each
one.

This article ( [http://www.cbsnews.com/news/verizon-att-get-most-bucks-
from-...](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/verizon-att-get-most-bucks-from-feds-
for-wiretaps/) ) is for wiretap fees but has this info: "AT&T, for example,
imposes a $325 "activation fee" for each wiretap and $10 a day to maintain it.
Smaller carriers Cricket and U.S. Cellular charge only about $250 per wiretap.
But snoop on a Verizon customer? That costs the government $775 for the first
month and $500 each month after that".

According to this (
[http://www.cnbc.com/id/101178369](http://www.cnbc.com/id/101178369) )
article: "The C.I.A. is paying AT&T more than $10 million a year to assist
with overseas counterterrorism investigations by exploiting the company's vast
database of phone records, which includes Americans' international calls".

So yes I'm sure assisting government agencies in this way is quite profitable.

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jacobquick
Having worked at one of these carriers I can tell you that everyone there
trips over themselves to help out law enforcement. Everyone is constantly
thinking up new ways to help, particularly if it's a service they can charge
for or some data they can sell. You can be a part-time meter maid in Cracker
Barrel, Arkansas and if you know which number to call you will get pretty much
any data on any number you want. There was some bespoke software where the
cell numbers of undercover law enforcement are not returned from searches but
otherwise the data is voluntarily shared because really the government
contracts for cellphones from every vendor are so big who would jeopardize
them?

When they get a big public backlash about a thing like this the company's
lawyers pop in and remind you of the policies, demand to see that you are
following them, etc. but no change occurs.

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ceosam
321k for one carrier (that were reported) meaning a conservative total would
be ~1 million requests. 2013 census reports that there are 8 states with
populations of 1 mil or less.

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wil421
So out of the 321,000 orders how many caught a suspected terrorist or foiled a
terrorist plot?

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bilbo0s
To be fair...

some of these could be just cops targeting suspected criminals who have
nothing to do with terrorism. Also, I suspect a very large number may just be
divorce cases or civil proceedings.

They don't ALL have to be tied to terrorism necessarily.

~~~
wil421
Ahh that makes sense then. I thought it was referring to the FISA court orders
from the NSA, not orders from all agencies.

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nwh
One every 2 minutes.

~~~
exDM69
Assuming each of these were for different persons, that amount of request
would already amount to about 1/1000 of US population.

Given that Verizon isn't the only telecom operator in the US, the percentage
of people under surveillance is quite significant.

And I assume this is only non-secret requests, we've heard news about such
requests that are accompanied by a gag order which probably wouldn't end up in
transparency reports.

~~~
codex
I don't have hard information here, but I suspect the number is far lower.
Each one of these requests is likely for a very small time period; keeping a
single individual under surveillance likely takes a large number of requests.

Furthermore, the vast majority of these requests are subpoenas (161K) which
can be issued in divorce proceedings or legal tussles over car accidents (was
the driver texting?) among other uses.

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AnimalMuppet
From the article: 6000 pen register or trap and trace orders (real time info
of who called whom). And (drumroll, please): 1000 to 2000 National Security
Letters.

