LOCATING PARENTS THROUGH CELLULAR TELEPHONE RECORDS
OCSE 17th National CSE
Training Conference
September 11, 2007
Washington, D.C.
OCSE Locate Sources Initiative
- State & Cell Phone Companies Interaction
- 84% of the US population will have cell phones (233 million) by the end of 2007
- Projected to have 100% saturation by the year 2013 which will
exceed US population
- Estimated 322 million cell phones
- Total US population will not all have cell phones
- 18-20% will have multiple cell phones
- Landlines versus cell phone usage
- Cell phone lines surpassed landlines in 2005
- 181.1 million cell phone lines versus 177.9 million landlines
OCSE Locate Sources Initiative
- State & Cell Phone Companies Interaction
- Virginia's success prompted other States to contact and negotiate processes
with several cell phone companies
- 17 States are actively or considering interfacing cell phone companies
- North Carolina law exempts cell phone companies from providing locate
information
- Oregon needs further legislation for cell phone companies compliance
- Legislation
- Iowa, Maine, and Louisiana passed cell phone legislation
- Illinois has proposed cell phone legislation
- North Carolina cannot change their law until 2009
- Several States have been successful obtaining locate information
- Both cell phone companies & States have identified concerns/issues
OCSE Locate Sources Initiative
- State Issues
- Lack of Standardization
- Cell phone companies
- Unique data elements requirements
- Different file transmission methods
- Subpoenas
- Multiple subpoenas versus single subpoenas
- Subpoena compliance
- Lack of Automation
- Most cell phone companies have no automated process
- Manual process is time consuming
- Shortfall of resources
- Multiple Agreements
OCSE Locate Sources Initiative
- Cell Phone Companies Issues
- Lack of Standardization
- Unique data elements requirements for each State
- Some States have required data elements that cannot be provided
- State legislation mandating data elements
- Volume
- Data Security
- Customer Privacy
- Lack of Resources
OCSE Locate Sources Initiative
- Final Analysis and Recommendation
- Increased volume of subpoenas may deter progress and dissuade cell phone
companies from working cooperatively with States
- Lack of standardized process is hampering progress
- Reduces collections and locate efforts
- Mutually beneficial for all States & cell phone companies to work together
- Resolve State and cell phone companies issues
- Develop processes that are advantageous to States and cell phone companies
- Form National Cell Phone Work Group
What We Learned About the Cell Phone Industry
- You are tied to your provider
- The percentage of wireless-only U.S. households is rapidly increasing
- 160 wireless providers
BACKGROUND
- Coordinated Project between the Office of the Attorney General and Virginia DCSE
- Authority under Federal Law 42 USC 666(c)(1)(D)
- Authority under State Law 63.2-1902 and 63.2-1903
ADMINISTRATIVE SUBPOENA DEVELOPMENT
- Issued to track down some of the hardest to locate parents, after all other locate efforts exhausted
- Initially issued to seven of the largest cell phone companies in Virginia: Verizon, Sprint,
T-Mobile, Cingular (now AT&T), Alltel, Ntelos and Nextel
- Registered Agents/Service of Process
PROGRESS TO DATE
- 4,980 subpoenas have been issued on 1040 parents
- 40-50% Hit Rate
- Multiple companies often have information on a parent
Data Matches
- Voluntary matches are underway quarterly with Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint
- No state legislation required
- Additional companies to follow shortly
- Matches are mutually beneficial, providing a much more efficient and less time-consuming
process than preparing and answering individual subpoenas
Initial Data Matches
- SSNs submitted - 268,306
- New, unduplicated cell phone numbers obtained:
- AT&T - 17,731
- Verizon - 15,388
- Sprint - 13,085
- Nextel - 5,763
52,000 or 20%
National Cell Phone Work Group
- Mission: Establish a standardized, automated national process to obtain cell phone
information to locate parents
- Co-chairpersons:
- Kerry Newcombe, OCSE
- Nick Young, Virginia
- Initial Meeting: June 26-27, Seattle, WA
Work Group Participants
- Colorado - Mary Clair
- Iowa - Carol Eaton
- New Jersey - Eileen Coughlin
- North Carolina - Barry Miller
- Oregon - Butch Castor
- Pennsylvania - Tom Scheaffer
- San Diego, CA - Jeff Grissom
- Texas - Charles Smith
- Virginia - Cindy Coiner
- OCSE Region X - Nancy Mathieson
Cell Phone Work Group Imperatives
- Universal Access
- Simple
- Cost Effective
- Mutually Beneficial
- Establishes Partnerships
Cell Phone Work Group Goals
- Portability
- Collaborative effort
- Efficient use of automation
- Economies of scale
- Enhanced return on investment
- Standardized data elements
Next Steps
- Establish cost effective, mutually beneficial partnerships with cell phone companies
- Establish standardized input/output data elements
- Centralize and standardize the data matching process
- Seek input from IV-D Directors and cell phone companies
Future Ideas
- Cellular Telephone Locate Services
- GPS Locate
- Internet Service Providers - Email
- Cable Television Companies
- Grocery Store Valued Customer Cards
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