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[rcjordan]

"After reading this article, it should be clear to the reader that pen registers and trap & trace devices are used for far more than just collecting phone numbers dialed. They are used to get email headers (including To, From), the URLs of web pages viewed by individuals, and in many situations, they are used (along with a Stored Communications Act request) to get geolocation information on mobile phone users."

Sprint/Nextel:
"our GPS tool. We turned it on the web interface for law enforcement about one year ago last month, and we just passed 8 million requests."
"In the electronic surveillance [compliance] group at Sprint.... There's like 110 all together."
"95% of all IP requests, emergencies are because of MySpace or Facebook"
"over half of all of our surveillance includes SMS messaging"

Cricket:
we have 4.5 - 5 million subscribers. We get approximately 200 [surveillance] requests per calendar day


http://paranoia.dubfire.net/2009/12/8-million-reasons-for-real-surveillance.html

[isthisthingon]

Yes: http://techdirt.com/articles/20091201/1305527152.shtml

[rcjordan]

thanks, itto.  sprint users can be a little less paranoid now. (assuming they believe corporate pr-driven 'explanations')

"Update: Sprint is now trying to explain this by saying that the numbers represent number of "pings" and that can include thousands of pings per a single investigation. In a single investigation, once law enforcement has a court order, it can check someone's location every 3 minutes for up to 60 days -- and that's what made the number so inflated."