The recent scandal over the numerous text messages between Detroit Mayor, Kwame
Kilpatrick, and chief of staff, Christine Beatty, leave people worrying whether their own text messages are really secure.
Fortunately, most of us don't have to worry because just as cell phone conversations
aren't recorded, neither are cell phone text messages. Since there isn't a federal law requiring they be kept by your cell phone
provider, once you delete them, they are gone forever.
In the case of the mayor and chief of staff, their messages were recorded since they
are city officials who were using specialized, city-owned Blackberry-typedevices, called a SkyWriter. The SkyWriter records every message, from who is sending the message, to who is receiving it
as well as the date, time and length of the text message, up to 2,000 characters. Had the mayor and chief of staff used regular text
messaging cellular phones through Verizon, AT&Tor Sprint, their messages wouldn't have been recorded.
Spokesmen for both Sprint and AT&T confirmed they do keep text messages in their
system anywhere from 72 hours to two weeks. This is only for the purpose of making sure their customers receive those messages, in the event
their cell phones were turned off or they were out of the network. This is pretty much the industry standard.
Since this text message scandal occurred, many people are wondering just how secure
their text mesages really are. In general, they are pretty private. While it's true that once you delete the messages, they
are gone forever, if you have saved them on the cell phone's memory card, they can be retrieved even after they have been deleted.
Retrieving them, however, is expensive and requires specialized companies. For $9.95 per month, a company called
Radar, can download special software to a cell phone that would enable the messages to then be viewed via a website. This could be
very beneficial to parents who want to keep an eye on their kid's text message activity.
As for emails sent through a mobile phone, people should be aware that they are kept
on a server, much like they are on a regular computer which stores and archives the messages in electronic databases. If required by
a subpoena, most emails can be retrieved and handed over to a court of law as legal evidence.
So, with all this information, it's perhaps a good time to remember what our mom used to
say, "Don't say (or write) anything you don't want other people to find out."
devices, called a SkyWriter. The SkyWriter records every message, from who is sending the message, to who is receiving it
as well as the date, time and length of the text message, up to 2,000 characters. Had the mayor and chief of staff used regular text
messaging cellular phones through Verizon,