The headline could equally say "AT&T kept data for criminals to steal". If wiretapping laws didn't exist then most of this data would not be justified to exist

The headline could equally say "AT&T kept data for criminals to steal". If wiretapping laws didn't exist then most of this data would not be justified to exist. Flat-rate billing doesn't need to keep track of this information. Even usage-based plans could keep cumulative records rather than individual ones, or at least delete them at the end of a billing period. Where there is a trough, pigs gather.