I contacted the Media Relations office of my landline provider, Telephone and Data Systems, Inc., aka TDS. Left a voicemail, and 1/2 hour later heard back from their
Manager of Communications.
She’d been told their policy is to provide call data only when subpoenaed. She also cautions that they have no control over routing info on shared networks.
I suggested they post this prominently, as a marketing advantage.
An hour after that, she emailed a link to their ensuing press release.
(TDS provides landlines in a number of mid-size markets, mostly college towns.)
TDS’ Policy Concerning Customer Call Records
Date: May 11, 2006
For More Information Contact:
DeAnne Boegli
525 Junction Road
Madison, WI 53717
608-664-4428
Recent news reports have called attention to a program of the National Security Agency that has collected call records from major telephone carriers including Verizon, SBC/ATT and Bell South.
TDS has a strong policy to protect our customer records and is in fact mandated by the Communications Act , section 222 to protect your records, and we do so with great care. TDS would only assist law enforcement or government agencies when requested via a valid subpoena. When these requests are made we do comply with state and federal laws.
Calls placed outside of our network which connect to one of the carriers that do participate in this program may become part their database, we are unable to restrict this activity. TDS does not have any authority over the other Carriers that complete your call.
We have no further information regarding the NSA program.
Here’s links to phones and email for Media Relations at Verizon and ATT
