After reading the USA Today
article on the NSA's data collection, I came home today and made my first item of business calling my cellphone provider, Cingular, to learn what their official stance on the privacy of my calls is.
At this point, I'll tentatively believe the Cingular National Subpoena Compliance Center rep when she told me "we do not provide any records to the government without a court order or subpoena for that customer's records" and consider my privacy protected. I'd love to get some confirmation from other Cingular customers, and it would be especially comforting to see confirmation in print from someone beyond phone support. The Customer Service rep gave a very different, disconcerting answer, so I don't consider this solid evidence Cingular has not turned over records. And of course, sadly, even if others are told the same thing I was we cannot be 100% sure Cingular is telling the truth.
The two conversations I had with Customer Support and National Compliance center are below the fold if you're interested...
Conversation #1: Jesse from Customer Service (611 on your cellphone)
I told him the short version of the USA Today story, and asked if Cingular is handing their records over as well. He responded: "You can't believe everything you read in the paper. I'm unaware of this story" and put me on hold to confer with his manager. He came back and replied, "I've just been shown an e-mail that gives us some information on this. I legally cannot comment on whether your phone records have or have not been handed over to anyone. But I can state that Cingular will only give out records in the case of a national security issue. We would only hand over records in the interest of national security. I'm personally speculating now, but I don't think we would hand over records without the proper orders in a time of emergency."
I explained that this isn't very comforting, since this is the logic the government is using to get these records without a court order, and I'm simply looking for a yes or a no. He said they only person that could give such an answer is Cingular's CEO, and he then refused to let me speak to his manager or give me any other contact numbers since "no one will legally be allowed to answer your question."
We talked a little bit more, and he commented that what I've told him about this article simply can't be true. In his 6 years as a Dallas police officer, he knows there are laws and regulations that must be followed in regards to this data, and that there's no way the government could either get or process that volume of data. I suggested he read the entire USA Today article, as it directly contradicts all of his assumptions and beliefs. I told him I'd be calling back next week to follow up and that hopefully Cingular would have a satisfactory answer.
Not very promising so far... But, it's the customer service department and clearly they don't know exactly what they should be telling their customers yet.
Conversation #2: Janice at Cingular National Subpoena Compliance Center (800-635-6840)
I started the same way, giving a brief description of the article and asking if Cingular could comment if they participated or not. She said "I'm not aware of any such program. You can't believe everything you read in the paper, though." She then asked for my name and number and said she would talk with her supervisor and call me back tomorrow.
5 minutes later I got a call from Janice: "I've spoken with my manager, who is aware of the issue and has read the article. She would like to point out that it does not reference Cingular Wireless, or any other wireless provider. Cingular Wireless is not handing over records to the government. We do not provide any records to the government without a court order or subpoena for that customer's records." I repeated her last two sentences and asked if that was Cingular's confirmed, official position, and she verified that it was. I asked her why the Customer Service department gave me the other information about not being able to legally tell me and turning over records for national security issues. She said she had no idea why they would give out this wrong information.
Conclusion
I'm not entirely convinced what I heard today is correct, since two parts of Cingular were in broad disagreement. It would be useful to know what other Cingular users are being told across the country. Obviously, if the information does not agree there is cause for concern and hopefully motivation for a concerted effort to get to the bottom of this.