Secrets of the Empire: Why Cell Phone Outage Reports are Secret

If you are looking at a cellular carrier, it would be great to know how many outages customers have experienced. But where to find that data? The FCC keeps a database of cell phone provider outages, but even under the Freedom of Information Act, you can’t get it. Why? Terrorists, they say.

A federal Freedom of Information Act request for the data, filed in August by MSNBC.com, has been rejected by the agency. The stated reasons: Release of the information could help terrorists plan attacks against the United States, and it would harm the companies involved.

What use would wireless outage reports have to would-be terrorists? Not much, said NBC terrorism analyst Roger Cressey, the former chief of staff of the President’s Critical Infrastructure Protection Board.

“There is nothing mysterious behind it, it is corporate competition protection,” said Cressey, now a partner in Good Harbor Consulting. “The only reason for the government to not let these records get out is then one telco provider could run a full-page ad saying ‘the government says we’re more reliable.’” Source: The Red Tape Chronicles

You do get 30 days to try and return a phone, but that doesn’t tell you how many outages a carrier might experience over a much longer period, typically. On the other hand we wouldn’t want to help terrorists, now would we (and I say this with tongue firmly planted in cheek).