Cell Phone Data: Knowledge Is Power

Cell phones have become increasingly ingrained in everyone’s day-to-day life. Unfortunately, with technology advancing at such a rapid pace, it is making it increasingly difficult for those in the criminal justice field to stay on top of technological advancements while staying focused on the pursuit of justice. While cell phones contain a great amount of data, they also contain fundamentally different data that can change the outcome of a court case.  

Cell phones either contain cell tower data or cell phone data. Cell tower data is data that transmits when a cell phone connects to a tower in order to send and/or receive data such as calls or text messages. Phones do not necessarily connect to the nearest tower, but instead to the tower with the strongest signal, although they have the ability to connect to multiple towers. There are many factors that go into tower selection for cell phones such as weather, topography, tower capacity, and tower maintenance. 

Cell phone data is data that is collected directly from the phone itself. This contains a greater wealth of data such as any calls or text messages that were sent or received; any apps that were actively or inactively being used; photos and videos that were taken on the device; device’s tracked locations; deleted data; and more. This is considered higher quality data because it gives you a better idea of the actual cell phone use, whereas cell tower data can only give you a general idea of what was transpiring on the phone. 

Cell tower data can be extremely useful when trying to determine the general location of a person’s device or whether that person sent or received a call or text message; unfortunately, that is just about all that cell tower data can tell you. Cell phone data, on the other hand, can tell you just about anything you want to know; whether a call or text message was deleted; more accurate location data; whether the phone was opened or unlocked; and more. Therefore, experts agree that cell phone data is more accurate in determining the true activities that transpired. 

These differences are extremely important especially when it’s the difference between being innocent or being guilty. As digital forensic expert David Thompson once said, “If used improperly, this science can produce erroneous results.” Knowing these differences can help you protect your clients and maintain their freedom.