Most Text Messges are Deleted
by Bob Bentz
Just in case you were wondering, most cell phone text messages are not saved or recorded anywhere.
So, if you are doing something you shouldn’t be doing, or said something that you shouldn’t have said, chances are you’re in the clear if you did it by text message. Certainly, this is not the case with emails that have been used as evidence in countless court cases, even when the message was first deleted. It certainly costs a lot to recover deleted emails, but they do remain on your hard drive and a forensics company can do the job for you for about $2200.
According to an article in the Detroit Free Press, Sprint saves text messages for about two weeks, AT&T saves them for about three days, and Verizon keeps them for a “very short time.”
Unfortunately, for him anyway, Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was using SkyTel for his text message dalliances with chief of staff Christine Beatty. Unlike Sprint, AT&T or Verizon, SkyTel records everything.
While text messaging via cell phone leaves no recorded trail, sending email via cell phone does, just as if it was sent to your computer.
So, if you are looking for something to stay private, its better to send it via text than via email. Better yet, don’t send it at all.
(That’s Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick pictured on the right. That’s not Christine Beatty with him, but wouldn’t that be ironic…)
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