Carriers Urged To Review Data Retention Practices Following Passage of USA Freedom

Telecom carriers will now have to process requests for records that the National Security Agency previously collected, after passage of the USA Freedom Act earlier this month (see 1506030039), wrote Kelley Drye attorneys Steve Augustino and Jameson Dempsey in a blog post Wednesday. USA Freedom doesn't impose any new data retention requirements on carriers, which “allows carriers to continue implementing their own business record retention policies,” Augustino and Dempsey wrote. Under federal law and FCC rules, carriers already are required to retain various customer records such as name, address, caller's phone number, number dialed, date, time and length of the call for carriers offering toll telephone services. Other preexisting obligations include: maintaining secure and accurate records of all interceptions of communications or access to call-identifying information for a reasonable period of time under the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act; telecom relay service providers must retain call detail records for at least five years; and carriers participating in the Lifeline program must retain call detail records for three years, “although the FCC is expected to extend this retention requirement to 10 years at the month’s FCC Open Meeting,” Augustino and Dempsey said. Providers of services for E-Rate and the Connect America Fund must retain documents on their delivery of services for at least 10 years, and telecom firms must continue to follow various state-level data retention laws in states where they operate, the post said.