Sen Markey expands probe into police access to cellphone data

Sen Ed Markey (D-MA) is expanding his investigation into how often police acquire personal data from cellphone carriers.

Last year, as a member of the House, then-Rep Markey sent letters to the major cellphone carriers to gather statistics about police access to cellphone data. He discovered that, in 2011, police made 1.3 million requests for information, such as text messages, location data, call logs and "cell tower dumps," in which the wireless carriers provided police with all of the phone numbers that connected to a particular cell tower in a period of time. Sen. Markey sent another round of letters to the cell carriers, asking for updated and more detailed information. "There are legal, constitutional and privacy implications of sharing consumers’ mobile telephone information. We need to know what is being collected and the legal authorities by which law enforcement is requesting the records, possibly of innocent people being swept up as part of these digital dragnets," he said.