Legal
This type of legal order is required for records containing location.
What is a Search Warrant?
(Will also accept What is a 2703(d) Court Order for Historical Records only)
This provider has the longest retention period for cell providers including 13 months for Timing Advance.
What is AT&T?
*Bonus what does AT&T stand for?
This is needed to establish exigency.
What is danger of death or great bodily harm to a person?
Business records showing calls and texts made by a phone at the date and time occurred.
What is Call Detail Records or CDRs?
Receiving real time all incoming and outgoing traffic on a target device to include calls, texts, and data with the active tower information.
What is a Pen Register / Trap and Trace or PRTT?
This type of request is valid for 90 days, but can be extended up to 90 more days.
What is a Preservation Request?
This cellular provider was recently bought out by T-Mobile, which also bought out Sprint in 2020.
What is US Cellular?
Under federal law (18 U.S.C. § 2702), this specific entity—not a judge—makes the final discretionary call on whether a situation is urgent enough to voluntarily release a target's location records without legal process.
What is the electronic communications service provider (or cellular carrier)?
This shows the "owner" of the account.
What are subscriber records?
This request involves asking for all mobile devices that utlized cellular towers in a given area at a given time.
What is a tower dump?
This is the Constitutional amendment that governs exigent data requests.
What is the 4th Amendment?
This third party app is a popular way to get calling and texting with an actual phone number without a phone plan, or sometimes to attempt to anonymize your real number.
What is TextNow?
This is the typical amount of historical records one can get records for while operating on exigency.
What is 48 hours?
This data includes the internet pathways data travels with the date and time.
What are IP logs?
This technique involves using specialized equipment to lock onto a mobile phone and provide a general area the phone is currently located.
What is a Cell Site Simulator or CSS?
Under the Stored Communications Act (SCA) - 18 U.S.C. § 2703, this is the lowest level of legal process required to obtain basic subscriber information from a cellular provider.
Subpoena (Grand Jury or Administrative).
This provider has a retention period of 7 days for RTT and 1 year for Call Detail Records.
What is Verizon?
This should be done as a follow up to any exigent data request.
What is write a search warrant?
This cellular record includes tower, sector and an estimated distance.
What are Timing Advance records?
This technique involves a mass search of all the phone numbers a target number contacts which includes an associated address that can be mapped.
What is a batch phone search or batch query?
This controversial investigative technique, recently scrutinized in cases like United States v. Chatrie, uses a search warrant to gather data on every mobile device within a specific radius during a crime window.
What is an Area Search.
This is the company responsible for providing data for Dish Wireless and other companies.
What is Subsentio?
If a member of Law Enforcement fabricates or severely exaggerates an emergency to get immediate cellular records, the resulting evidence may face suppression under this constitutional doctrine, which throws out evidence derived from illegal police conduct.
What is the fruit of the poisonous tree doctrine?
This record requires a search warrant and may only be available for 48 hours or 3-5 days, depending on the provider.
What is text message content?
This broad term describes connected consumer devices—like smart doorbells, fitness trackers, and automated home assistants—that routinely log timestamps and user proximity data useful in creating timelines.
What is Internet of Things (IoT)?