Retrieving text from an sms

GalwayKiefer

Does anyone here know if networks in Ireland store the text of an sms as well as the time/date details? I need to retrieve an sms I sent last month. I have the time/date/recipient information on my statement but when I rang customer service they said they don't store the text of an sms. I thought under an EU "anti-terrorist" law brought in that call/sms/email data has to now be stored by providers for 3 years?

Apologies if this should be in one of the other Tech sub-sections.

granadaghia

I think your problem is that you rang their customer care centre, they can usually only deal with the top ten common queries from customers, most of the people working in those call centres wouldnt have the ability to deal with anything outside the box.not their fault really networks fault : pay in peanuts = attract monkeys.
Make your request to the data protection manager of the network . not at the call centre address but at the main registered office of the company , and do so in writing , keep a copy . if they dont reply hassle them . it does work.

tallaghtoutlaws

granadaghia wrote: »

I think your problem is that you rang their customer care centre, they can usually only deal with the top ten common queries from customers, most of the people working in those call centres wouldnt have the ability to deal with anything outside the box.not their fault really networks fault : pay in peanuts = attract monkeys.
Make your request to the data protection manager of the network . not at the call centre address but at the main registered office of the company , and do so in writing , keep a copy . if they dont reply hassle them . it does work.

Wait What? Maybe the person in the call centre actually hasn't the ability or power to retrieve the text message? Even by an EU directive if Networks are told to store the many amounts of texts people send I am pretty sure they are backed up and stored elsewhere and not that easy to retrieve. What has data protection got to do with this issue? Let me remind you of the Data Protection act

What is data protection?

When you give your personal details to an organisation or individual, they have a duty to keep these details private and safe. This process is known as data protection. We refer to organisations or individuals who control the contents and use of your personal details as ‘data controllers’.

Most of us give information about ourselves to groups such as Government bodies, banks, insurance companies, medical professionals and telephone companies to use their services or meet certain conditions. Organisations or individuals can also get information about us from other sources. Under data protection law, you have rights regarding the use of these personal details and data controllers have certain responsibilities in how they handle this information.

When do these rights apply?

You have the right to data protection when your details are:
• held on a computer;
• held on paper or other manual form as part of a filing system; and
• made up of photographs or video recordings of your image or recordings of your voice.

A text message hardly falls under this.

To be honest granadaghia reading a lot of your posts over the last few months and you are feeding people rubbish or just complaining.

helimachoptor

the networks will keep a copy of your SMS, well at least one of them does and the SMSC they were using had a common (throughout the world) access password which means you could login and view sms content by number. Those SMSCs may have been replaced though so i'm not sure on the current set up of that operator or the other irish operators. But I can tell you they invest a lot of money in storage to hold information.

Edit: I will also say you will not get a hold of these messages unless requested by the courts/gardai.

GalwayKiefer

helimachoptor wrote: »

the networks will keep a copy of your SMS, well at least one of them does and the SMSC they were using had a common (throughout the world) access password which means you could login and view sms content by number. Those SMSCs may have been replaced though so i'm not sure on the current set up of that operator or the other irish operators. But I can tell you they invest a lot of money in storage to hold information.

Edit: I will also say you will not get a hold of these messages unless requested by the courts/gardai.

Thanks for that information helimachoptor. As for the bit in bold, I need the text of the sms to prove I did not say something (in the sms) that has been alleged I did, seeing as the Gardaí are now involved they can go get the court order so and have the network go looking for it.

helimachoptor

Yes the gardai can request this info from the network provider and will get it.