Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
and.relay.the.message.signal.to.the.appropriate.tower.(or.tow-
ers).to.get.it.to.your.friend.
Remember.when.we.talked.about.the.POTS,.or.the.Plain.
Old. Telephone. System?. If. you. think. about. it,. nothing. has.
really. changed. here,. has. it?. The. only. difference. is. that. all.
of.the.information.that.used.to.be.handled.by.the.operator.
manually.has.been.converted.to.electronic.signals.so.that.the.
routing. and. connecting. of. one. person's. communication. to.
another's.can.be.handled.by.computers..And.of.course,.the.
other.big.difference.is.that.now.we.have.persistent.records.of.
each.and.every.communication.that.occurs.
One.more.thing.to.note.about.that.text.message.you.just.
sent.to.your.friend.telling.her.about.your.new.boyfriend.and.
how.“OMG,.he's.so.hot!,”.there.is.a.better.than.likely.chance.
that.message.is.stored.somewhere.else.besides.on.your.phone.
where.it.will.eventually.be.purged.
Anyone.who.owns.a.cell.phone.knows.that.you.are.paying.
someone.for.cellular.service..Those.organizations.are.respon-
sible.for.carrying.your.electronic.signals.from.point.A.(you).to.
point.B.(your.friend)..And.they.charge.you.for.doing.so,.often.
by.the.time.spent.(minutes).or.the.amount.of.data.you.use..
In.order.to.charge.you.they.have.to.know.what.is.being.sent.
and.received,.so.they.store.that.data,.at.least.for.a.little.while.
Now,.you.might.imagine.how.much.data.that.would.entail.
if.you.begin.to.think.about.the.amount.of.data.you.generate.
all.by.yourself.and.then.multiply.that.by.millions.of.custom-
ers.for.each.of.those.cell.service.providers..Believe.me,.it.is.
a.lot..And.even.though.they.expect.that.and.plan.for.it.and.
have.unbelievably.huge.storage.capacity,.there.is.still.a.limit.
to.what.they.can.store.
So,.this.is.another.place.where.records.of.your.actual.text.
message.might.exist,.but.it.won't.exist.there.for.long..In.gen-
eral,.most.cell.providers.I.talked.to.agree.that.they.keep.less.
than.a.week's.worth.of.text.messaging.data.at.any.given.time.
for.any.given.customer,.and.often.it.is.less.than.that.
Yet,.an.article.from.the.online.Wired.zine.about.a.secret.
memo. marked. “for. law. enforcement. only”. is. somewhat.
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