So...

[TheMitch21]

I have a question. I have heard multiple answers.

Does your carrier actively check the picture mail that goes in and out of their servers?

Or do they only flag pictures that seem suspicious?

I've been wondering, because Sprint (my service) has told me explicitly that they do not have access to text messages, and I was wondering if it was the same for picture mail.

 

[jdbower]

With a court order they can access your phone calls, SMS, MMS, email and there's at least no technical reason they can't capture every packet that leaves your phone. Without one they can only access these things with your consent. In theory.

The question in any company is whether there are sufficient controls and oversight in the systems and individuals responsible for this. Google had an incident where a person in power was stalking a young girl through his admin access to Google Talk logs. He was caught and fired and you can bet internal policies were modified to help prevent this in the future but abuse happens.