To some, Edward Snowden is but Benedict Arnold reincarnated. But conversely to others, like Barbara Walters or The Guardian to name a few, he’s one of the most fascinating people on the planet. But if there’s one thing people in support of, and people adverse to, Snowden can agree on it’s that he’s shed light on the unfathomable amount of data collected on the part of federal, state, and local governments  – the protection of which has become the trademark issue of junior Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey.

For over a year, Markey has been conducting an investigation into the lawfulness – or lack thereof – of organizations like the National Security Agency (NSA), Snowden’s former employer from which he publicly leaked hundreds of thousands of classified documents, and how they’ve been methodically prying into and collecting personal data from cell phone providers on private, everyday, Joe Shmoe American citizens.

Markey has taken up the cause of protecting the individual rights and privacy of Americans by talking to major mobile providers and asking them on what grounds they readily hand over their customers’ data to government agencies, whether a warrant or a lower standard is used to obtain it, how often they do it, and what the costs are for fulfilling these requests.

The Senator spoke with U.S. Cellular, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile USA Inc., Leap Wireless Inc./ Cricket Communications, Inc., MetroPCS, Verizon Communications Inc., AT&T, and C Spire Wireless and posted the responses of all except for MetroPCS, right here.

Strikingly many of the providers submitted vague answers either telling Markey that they don’t track the specific request made by the Senator, that they are unable to provide some information per classifications at the behest of the likes of the Department of Defense and NSA, or that they do not track the precise number of law enforcement requests they are subjected to.

More specifically, though, and perhaps more concerning, Markey’s investigation has yielded the following statistics, amongst many more:

• AT&T received $10 million; T-Mobile received $11 million; and Verizon less than $5 million in just 2012 alone for providing customer data
• Some wireless companies do not require a warrant for some type of geolocation information. For example, AT&T requires a warrant for real-time but not for historical records and T-Mobile requires only a subpoena for historical records.
• AT&T discloses stored texts or voicemails that are older than 180 days old with a subpoena. In contrast, Verizon has a warrant standard for texts (but not necessarily for voicemails). T-Mobile requires a warrant for texts and voicemails.

According to a press release, as a result of his investigation, Senator Markey plans to introduce legislation to ensure American’s sensitive information is protected and there is transparency and accountability for law enforcement.

“If the police want to know where you are, we should know why,” said Senator Markey in a statement. “When law enforcement access location information, it as sensitive and personal as searching an individual’s home and should be treated commensurately.”

It is unclear at this time when Markey will file his bill calling for more transparency on the part of government, but stay tuned to BostInno for the latest information.