Verizon Wireless says that a number of its employees have “accessed and viewed” President-elect Barack Obama’s personal cellphone account without authorization.
The company said all employees who accessed the account — whether they were authorized to or not — were immediately put on leave with pay. The firm said it was evaluating the circumstances of each employee’s access to the account to determine appropriate action, including disciplinary proceedings.
“We apologize to President-elect Obama and will work to keep the trust our customers place in us every day,” chief executive Lowell McAdam said in a statement.
Verizon spokesman Jeffrey Nelson declined to comment beyond the company’s prepared statement and wouldn’t specify how many employees saw the account or what kind of information was viewed.
UPDATE: 3:15PM – Snoopers Fired!
What is required for private communications to remain private?
Maybe they should apologize to the “common” people they screw over too.
Back in the day, when Verizon was known as Bell Atlantic, you’d've got fired. I remember a girl in repair that got caught listening in on her own phone line from work, she thought her husband was cheating on her and she was right. Too bad it cost her her job to find out.
Lets see..
CELLPHONE, thats a PDA/Computer..with ALLOT of data on it and EMAILS..
I WOULD THINK, they would setup that EMAILS were DELETED after receive/sent..
But i digress..
a CELLPHONE SHOULD BE A PHONE FIRST..
That FUn PDA/computer function should be an ATTACHABLE device, and you SETUP your OWN location for EMAIL and send/receive DATA..BESIDES using the CELLPHONE company security is sounding VERY STUPID..I would think EVEN MSN email is better then ANY of the cellphone companies..
It is a good thing the last time we had phone companies spying on Americans like this, we prosecuted all the guilty parties, in order to send a strong message that this sort of behaviour will not stand. Oh wait, NFM.
One of the first thongs that came to mind was why is Verizon so upset because someone read over the President Elect’s phone records yet not upset that for years Verizon listened in on American’s phone calls with impunity.
If knowing who someone called is that important than why isn’t listening in on the conversations even more important?
“What is required for private communications to remain private?”
Too late. That horse has left the barn.
As long as they are recording everything people will snoop on people that interest them or just because it’s more fun than working they may prowl through anybody’s records.
If they weren’t authorized for some reason they need to be fired not that I think they learned much.
I’m surprised they were not immediately fired as they should be.
Put on leave with pay? WTF ?
I agree, they should be fired! All these businesses send out these privacy policies to inform you about how much they work to protect your information. Yet their own employee’s cannot follow the rules.
This info sounds bogus. The problem is only the politicians. Normal folks do not do sleazy things, right?
Didn’t Omama vote for FISA so he should have NO problem with this.
Cheney and W have been on the other end for years. Whats new here ?
#11 – encouraging to see your support for intrusion into privacy continues along nutball party lines.
Private? He’s a Senator for goodness sakes. He’s given a government phone with the necessary security, but chooses to use a Blackberry because ….??? He doesn’t want to be monitored or has something to hide. (I doubt either, just likes the cool technology).
But as President, everything *must* be monitored, stored and cataloged for later use in his Presidential Library.
#13 Moss,
Don’t call Omama & his party nutballs.
“Too late. That horse has left the barn.”
Little by little people become accustomed to the loss of their privacy and other rights, because they allow it to happen.
Too late? Screw That Attitude!
Start throwing top management in jail, and that goes double for politicians that take away our rights for ANY REASON.
How do you talk to the CIA/NSA ??? Pick up any phone !!!
Private Citizens need STRONG ENCRYPTION ON ALL THEIR COMM CHANNELS !!!
I work for a phone company (not saying who). They need to put a lock on the records for his account so not every employee can access.
Of course that just screens out the majority of employees. Some one will always have the permission level to access. You just want to limit it and put flags when it is accessed.
This is no different than people at the DMV, your bank, your health care providers, etc. There will be and always has been someone who can look at sensitive info. Management has the responsibility though to manage who does it though and when.
# 18 EvilPoliticians said, “They need to put a lock on the records for his account so not every employee can access.”
Why?
#19 – Paddy-O
To keep out the curiosity seekers or those looking for dirt.
I like the companies I deal with that ask for something personal so they can access your account. Something like the last 4 digits of your SSN or maybe a security question like when retrieving a forgotten website password.
This story doesn’t sound like anything sinister. But with some simple system restrictions, it might have been avoided. And those that breached the trust should be fired for violating the terms of employment we all agree to.