Picture this: the telephone in a shop rings - not a cell phone - a telephone. (Like the old timey ones that used to hang on the wall with really long cords)  A clerk answers the telephone.

A voice on the other end of the line squeaks, “Do you have Prince Albert in a can?” The clerk hurriedly checks the shelves. He find that, yes, they do stock Prince Albert tobacco stored in an air tight metal container. The clerk answers “Yes, we do”.

With barely stifled giggles, the voice on the other end of the line yells: “Then why don’t you let him out?!! He can’t breathe!!”

Aaahh, the childish pranks of yesteryear. Remember how much fun prank calls were? Sure, they were illegal, but they were fun. Best of all, you could get away with them.

Enter the cell phone.

Sure, you can play mobile games on the cell phone. You can make movies. You can even download an app that turns your phone into a flashlight. But what your cell phone won’t let you do is make anonymous prank calls. Because even if you’re using an app to block your number from other cell phone users--what you can’t block is your number from your carrier.

This is where it gets scary.

On September 28, the American Civil Liberties Union (the organization that the original George Bush made fun of, remember), released a document that showed EXACTLY how long cell phone providers kept your information on record. That information can come back to haunt you.

Remember that sexting session you had? Guess how long those text messages are kept? You’re lucky if you carrier is Verizon because they only keep the content of text messages between three and five days. However, if you’re with Virgin--be careful who you sext; Virgin keeps content of text messages for up to 90 DAYS.

Big deal, you say, so the carrier keeps text messages for a few days. So what, right? How about the numbers that you call? Want to take a stab in the dark at how long that information is on file? Put it this way, if someone gave you an AT&T/Cingular cell phone as a present for college, by the time you graduated, 4 years later, AT&T would STILL have a record of all your booty calls from your freshman year. (Those booty calls could come back and bite you in the ass!)

The other scary piece of information that providers are keeping is the cell towers that you used when you made your calls. This information can pinpoint the exact area that you were in; almost down to the street level. In the case of Sprint and Nextel, this information is kept on file for up to two years.

Just remember that the next time you start asking for Prince Albert--it could come back to haunt you!