August 30, 1996
We enter the next level of phone trace hell:
- Confusion over what sorts of court order/subpoena/search warrant we needed to request the trace.
- I don’t recall how this was resolved.
Notes:
Phone trace hell, part 4 (or so)
Legal problems with the trace: phone company wants XXX, judge won’t grant XXX, says we need YYY.
Talk to your phone company and ask about their procedures for doing phone traces. Ask whether they save call information that would allow you to trace past calls, or whether they can only trace current or future calls.
Take what you found out from the phone company, and pass it by your legal counsel and the police. Ask the police to run it by the prosecutor's office to see whether they agree. This is an important step - if you collect phone trace information improperl
Get documentation for your phone lines - ask the phone company what they will need from you in order to identify a circuit and do a trace.
Don't hold your breath waiting for traces to get done. Develop some hobbies, like macrame or horse-back riding.
In summary - work these issues out *before* you need to do a trace, so that you can avoid irritating and costly delays.