On the legality of analyzing telephone call records

Abstract

This paper examines the legal issues related to the access and use of call detail records (CDRs) of telephone subscribers that are maintained by service providers. The scenarios considered involve a federal law enforcement agency obtaining CDRs to identify suspects in a terrorism investigation; a federal, state or local law enforcement agency analyzing CDRs to gain insight into drug trafficking activities by an organized crime family; and a state or local law enforcement agency using CDRs to identify parole violators or motorists who exceed the posted speed limit. In addition, the legality of a service provider analyzing CDRs to support its direct marketing efforts is discussed. © 2007 International Federation for Information Processing.