09/01/2021
The Republican Party, that I have been a member of since 1984 GOD help me, is embracing its ignorance. Their threat to shut down cell phone carriers, if Congressional phone records are released, is the epitome of ignorance.
Let's look at some key facts.
First off, did they ask Mitch McConnell? He pushed a bill to make the controversial surveillance law, The Patriot Act, permanent. I believe it was approved in the last few years, now called, The U.S. Freedom Act. Feel free to correct me Ted Cruz. He was a major proponent of the Freedom Act, of course, to keep the U.S. safe.
Then you have the stock market. Dump your Verizon, TMobile, and ATnT Securities now, before they go to $5, and go the way of WorldCom. Can you say delisted?
Imagine how many fortune 500 companies will lose business, reorganizing their cell phone service providers.
The top five handle 95% or more of the U.S. market (see attached photo). Verizon is in 40 countries, ATnT 190 countries, and TMobile 210 countries. Granted there are eight billion people in the world, and only 330 million U.S. Citizens.
ATnT keeps records as long as they have to. Verizon keeps them one year, and T-Mobile keeps them seven to ten years. However, they won't know what you said on your phone calls, and they won't be able to read what you wrote in text messages. Cell phone records in court have proven most effective in determining, if someone was on their phone during a crash, but they wouldn't be able to prove if it was a hands-free call, or if someone else in the vehicle was using the phone. They also can prove if Johnny fire starter was near the fire that he started.
The new wave of Republicans are not the brightest bulbs in the Capital, but then again Abe Lincoln used to read by candlelight.
To set the record straight, there's cell phone billing records, and there's cell phone detail records. Cell phone billing records only show billable activity, in most cases, so they wouldn't show outbound calls. In either case cell phone carriers do not know what was said on a phone call, and text messages are encrypted, and cannot be replicated. What they show in court is just the activity or the location. They won't know if you were hands free or not, or if you even read the text, or if you were even the one using the phone. In that case I would say the Democratic push is somewhat futile.
Somebody like Jim "turn my head to doctor physicals" Jordan will testify to the truth, but not give full disclosure.
I hope you found this helpful, unlike the Republican Party, that is just helpless.
