An anonymous reader quotes a report from Motherboard: A newly obtained document written by the FBI lays out in unusually granular detail how it and other law enforcement agencies can obtain location information of phones from telecommunication companies. Ryan Shapiro, executive director of nonprofit organization Property of the People, shared the document with Motherboard after obtaining it through a public record act request. Property of the People focuses on obtaining and publishing government records. The document, a 139 page slide presentation dated 2019, is written by the FBI’s Cellular Analysis Survey Team (CAST). CAST supports the FBI as well as state, local, and tribal law enforcement investigations through the analysis of call data and tower information, the presentation adds. That can include obtaining the data from telecommunications companies in the first place; analyzing tower dumps that can show which phones were in an approximate location at a given time; providing expert witness testimony; and performing drive tests to verify the actual coverage of a cell tower.

“When necessary, CAST will utilize industry standard survey gear drive test equipment to determine the true geographical coverage breadth of a cell site sector,” the presentation reads. The presentation highlights the legal process required to obtain information from a telecommunications company, such as a court order or search warrant. The LinkedIn profile of one CAST member Motherboard found says they have a “special emphasis in historical cell site analysis which is typically used for locating phones (and the individuals attached to those phones) for cases such as kidnappings, homicides, missing persons, and robberies.” CAST provides its own cell phone data visualization tool to law enforcement officials around the country called CASTViz for free. “CASTViz has the ability to quickly plot call detail records and tower data for lead generation and investigative purposes,” the presentation reads. The document includes images of and instructions for the CASTViz software itself.

The document also explains how data requests from Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs) such as Boost Mobile are handled, explains how to obtain location data from what the FBI describes as “burner phones,” and how to obtain information from OnStar, General Motors’ in-vehicle system. The document also provides the cost of some of this data for law enforcement to request. The presentation provides more recent figures on how long telecoms retain data for. AT&T holds onto data such as call records, cell site, and tower dumps for 7 years. T-Mobile holds similar information for 2 years, and Verizon holds it for 1 year. The slide also shows that AT&T retains “cloud storage internet/web browsing” data for 1 year. Another section that provides an overview of the different engineering and location datasets held by telecoms and potentially available to law enforcement agencies tells officials to use some AT&T data “cautiously.” “AT&T does not validate results,” the presentation reads. That section also mentioned that Verizon has a “new” location tool that law enforcement agencies can use. Rich Young, a Verizon spokesperson, told Motherboard in an email that “This is …read more

Source:: Slashdot