Phone companies cannot store the massive amount of text messages sent by customers.

As the world frets about whether the latest generation of cellphones track our every move, a more-obvious trail that sometimes can prove useful as shown by a string of recent criminal and ethics cases practically evaporates in seconds.

With an estimated 5 trillion text messages being sent around the globe this year, phone companies say they either no longer store the messages or do so for only a few hours or a few days. This can be a problem for law-enforcement officers trying to track down missing people or criminals.

"Anytime I can't get enough information to solve a case, that's an issue for me," said Brance Johnson, special-agent supervisor of the computer-crimes unit of the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification & Investigation.

Sometimes, by the time authorities realize that they need to see text messages and try to get subpoenas or court orders seeking them, the messages are gone, Johnson said.

Still, he acknowledged that no company has unlimited storage space for these trillions of texts floating around.

And although privacy advocates worry about the consequences of Big Brother, few can deny that cellphone technology can aid investigators in some instances.


Link:
http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2011/05/01/phone-companies-ditching-of-text-messages-might-hamper-crime-investigations.html?sid=101