Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
the.mix.that.will.hold.data.that.could.be.important.and.that.
might.not.depend.on.the.service.provider,.but.might.be.tied.
to.some.other.level.of.support.or.carrier.in.between.you.and.
your. provider. of. phone. services.. You. need. to. know. if. that.
is.the.case,.and.if.so,.again,.where.the.data.live.and.how.to.
access.the.data.
Yet.this.is.just.the.tip.of.the.iceberg.when.we.are.talking.
about.today's.cellular.phone.system..The.days.when.such.a.
thing.as.a.single-feature.device.existed.are.fast.disappearing..
Though. there. still. exist. some. cellular. telephones. that. only.
make.phone.calls,.they.are.increasingly.rare..Even.the.most.
basic.phones.are.likely.to.have.a.camera.in.them,.and.they.
most.always.allow.for.sending.SMS.(Short.Message.Service).
messages.or.
texting
.
Of.course,.many.of.them.also.have.the.ability.to.connect.
to.the.Internet,.play.games,.shoot.video,.and.more.
To.start,.let.us.look.at.some.of.those.features.and.how.they.
work.in.order.to.begin.to.understand.the.types.of.records.that.
might.be.created.by.them.
To.begin,.let's.look.at.what.has.become.the.most.ubiqui-
tous.and.to.some.folks.an.absolute.necessity—text.messag-
ing..In.an.interesting.experiment,.my.son's.high.school.asked.
students. to. volunteer. to. do. without. text. messaging. or. any.
social. media. for. a. whole. week.. To. those. high. school-aged.
kids.that.was.an.incredible.and.daunting.challenge..Text.mes-
saging.has.become.one.of.the.primary.modes.of.communica-
tion.and.as.such.it.is.also.now.one.of.the.primary.sources.of.
electronic.information.
All.signals.to.and.from.a.cell.phone.work.the.same.way..
They.are.basically.radio.wave.signals.that.must.be.picked.up.
and.transmitted.via.cell.towers.or.control.channels..These.sig-
nals.are.coming.and.going.from.your.cell.phone.even.when.
you.aren't.sending.a.text.or.making.a.call..Your.phone.is.con-
tinually.sending.and.receiving.signals.to.towers.to.keep.track.
of.which.communications.channel.it.is.closest.to.and.commu-
nicating.with..As.you.move.around,.your.phone.sends.out.sig-
nals.basically.saying,.“where.am.I?”.and.“which.of.you.towers.
