
Which Telecoms Store Your Data the Longest? Secret Memo Tells All - phsr
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/09/cellular-customer-data/
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drpancake
Storing your data is only scratching the surface of what these guys are up to.

See, for example: <http://sensenetworks.com/macrosense.php>

Disclaimer: I previously worked for a large carrier.

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sek
Facebook message content: Forever.

Sad to compare this to Telecoms.

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justhw
I thought it gets permanently deleted from their database when you delete your
account..no?

Edit: why the downvote? it's just a question. Chilax

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uxp
There are two kinds of deletions. The SQL DELETE command, and the boolean
`deleted` field. Facebook is reported to use the latter.

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FaceKicker
A guy who said he worked at Facebook posted a comment on HN a couple days ago
claiming that data is actually deleted from disk when you delete your account
(after the ~14 day waiting period for account deletion), and I think it seemed
like he was implying that this may have been the ONLY time data is actually
deleted rather than simply being marked deleted. Maybe someone has a link to
the actual comment/context...

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Vandy_Travis
I personally know this to be false. Over 2 years ago, I deleted my facebook
account. Approximately 6 months later, I accidentally got auto logged in by
LastPass when I clicked a link and ended up on the FB login page. It simply
welcomed me back with all my data intact.

I'm quite sure that I went through the deletion process, then waited far more
than the "14 day" requirement.

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smoyer
This is a nice enumeration of the details, but should we really be surprised
at all that they're doing it? Compliance with CALEA requires that some of this
information be retained in addition to the ability to tap communications.

~~~
masklinn
> should we really be surprised at all that they're doing it?

I'm sure nobody is surprised about information retention in general from
carriers, but the details are interesting.

It's essentially spelling out three things:

1\. If you're calling people a lot, you should use Verizon: your call records
will disappear within a year whereas others will keep them 2 (Sprint, T-Mobile
prepaid) to 7 (AT&T post-paid) years.

2\. Text message is a bit more complex, it's the same as calls for details but
_verizon is the only carriers storing the actual message for any length of
time_

3\. If you're mostly using data, go with T-Mobile, ideally prepaid: they have
the shortest cell tower history retention, don't keep any connection
information and don't even keep bill copies (for post-paid). The downside is
that they'll keep a log of your calls and messages for 2~5 years.

As you'd expect, AT&T is by far the worst (dead last in all categories but
data connection session informations)

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heliodor
When you combine #3 with the free hotspot feature that allows you to not pay
for that exorbitant home broadband connection, T-Mobile's a real winner!

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technomancy
Even more so once you use VoIP for all your calls and XMPP for your text
chats.

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yardie
In response to the title I was going to go with ATT. I was not disappointed;
they truly have no respect for you as a customer nor your privacy.

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baltcode
Is there a way to spam their records without running a huge bill in order to
have them store a large number of random bits?

