This is a nice enumeration of the details, but should we really be surprised at all that they're doing it? Compliance with CALEA requires that some of this information be retained in addition to the ability to tap communications.
> should we really be surprised at all that they're doing it?
I'm sure nobody is surprised about information retention in general from carriers, but the details are interesting.
It's essentially spelling out three things:
1. If you're calling people a lot, you should use Verizon: your call records will disappear within a year whereas others will keep them 2 (Sprint, T-Mobile prepaid) to 7 (AT&T post-paid) years.
2. Text message is a bit more complex, it's the same as calls for details but verizon is the only carriers storing the actual message for any length of time
3. If you're mostly using data, go with T-Mobile, ideally prepaid: they have the shortest cell tower history retention, don't keep any connection information and don't even keep bill copies (for post-paid). The downside is that they'll keep a log of your calls and messages for 2~5 years.
As you'd expect, AT&T is by far the worst (dead last in all categories but data connection session informations)
