Obama's Cell Phone Records Looked At By Verizon Workers

WASHINGTON — Verizon employees snuck a peek at President-elect Barack Obama's old cell phone records and will be reprimanded accordingly, the company said late Thursday.

Obama aides said no voicemails or e-mails were accessed.

In a statement, Verizon Wireless President and CEO Lowell McAdam apologized to Obama and disclosed the breach, saying: "a number of Verizon Wireless employees have, without authorization, accessed and viewed President-elect Barack Obama's personal cell phone account."

He said the account has been inactive for several months and Obama had been using a simple voice flip-phone without email capabilities.

"All employees who have accessed the account _ whether authorized or not _ have been put on immediate leave, with pay," McAdam said. "Employees with legitimate business needs for access will be returned to their positions, while employees who have accessed the account improperly and without legitimate business justification will face appropriate disciplinary action."

Comments

[mogirl09]

12:04 AM on 11/23/2008

haha this is Verizon's best job at PR? Yes, common sense tells you as an employee that looking at your own account is a bad idea, but it's not said. Yes, there is a part of VZW that only handles VIP phones but don't think they are any smarter or saavy than Joe Sixpack. Remember Paris Hiltons phone book posted to the net? Did anybody hear what action was taken against the tmobile employee who was part of it. This employee took it upon himself to look her up and send her a text message in support after her porn tape had come about.

Verizon knows it can get away with anything it wants, because it owns alltel now and vodaphone and they are increasingly cocky. You would be surprised the things that they let "happen" including not evacuating a call center on the busiest intersection in the city with several hundred employees if not more after receiving a credible bomb threat, in fact they didn't let the police look inside and they fired the security guards who suggested talking to the police.(http://www.phonescoop.com/forums/forum.php?fm=m&ff=17&fi=1816665) If you think that your verizon accounts are in the hands of capable ppl http://www.phonescoop.com/forums/forum.php?ff=17 well it speaks for itself.

[guyfrombrooklyn]

07:21 PM on 11/22/2008

Termination of Jobs...Can you hear ME NOW?

[pupbayer]

05:30 PM on 11/22/2008

I thought Obama had no problem with people "spying" on others' phone calls. He voted for FISA.

[FORLOMC]

07:32 PM on 11/22/2008

You might want to be intelligent enough to actually read the bill that was voted on before making stupid comments. You lack of knowledge is embarrassing.

[sociocanuck]

09:15 PM on 11/22/2008

He's just looking for excuses to be partisan. No knowledge applied or required.

[Stadium]

01:18 PM on 11/22/2008

Paid leave = Vacation. Punish me next, please.

[vpd4]

10:14 PM on 11/21/2008

should be fired pure & simple.

[asmir]

09:20 PM on 11/21/2008

This is why Qwest partnered with Verizon, they are both unethical, corrupt companies.

[iusedtocare]

07:26 PM on 11/21/2008

It's not right, but - unfortunately - it is ironic. Obama voted in favor of companies like Verizon with his FISA vote betrayal.

Again - it's not right, but it is poetic justice.

[ObjectiveRealist]

07:30 PM on 11/21/2008

Well, I don't know how poetic this is ...

http://www.credomobile.com/index.cfm?event=showSpecialOfferHome&pageID=58

[b2dap]

06:33 PM on 11/21/2008

Practically everyone I know has had their Identity stolen by people working at Verizon stores.
Seems they should be held accountable for something......

[sherbug]

06:01 PM on 11/21/2008

Has Verizon ever heard of encryption or some other kind of security that would prevent grunts from accessing sensitive information. They cannot pretend that they don't know how vulnerable people are with God knows who having access to every detail of your life.

These little hacks are just getting ridiculous. There is just TMI available.

[ResidentChimpinExile]

05:36 PM on 11/21/2008

It's okay if Democrats do it, but off limits to everyone else.

[tifaret]

05:05 PM on 11/21/2008

sorry to be a nitpicker, but the past tense of "sneak" is "sneaked" not '"snuck"....

[Osprey3]

05:18 PM on 11/21/2008

A little anal, aren't we? Perhaps you hale from Britain. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/snuck

[KeepMeLearning]

05:46 PM on 11/21/2008

It's "hail." And, yes, I'm nitpicky, too.

[blytzd]

06:19 PM on 11/21/2008

Depends if you follow grammatical or vernacular laws... yeah I think I made that up;-)

[yhgtup]

04:47 PM on 11/21/2008

I say fire all their as**es who weren't supposed to see his account!!

[Julie02]

04:36 PM on 11/21/2008

This is what sucks about our high tech society. No privacy.

[ChristianEcon.com]

05:16 PM on 11/21/2008

Made worse by deregulated fascist entities like Verizon. Corporations are running rampant and out of control. Verizon nickel-and-dime steals from its customers as a matter of standard operating procedure, and banks on victims not having the where-with-all to do anything about it. It's nearly impossible to get them to remit billing "errors" for example.

[sws3030]

07:50 PM on 11/21/2008

I stopped doing business with Verizon, even if it costs me more money. They lack totally in terms of customer service and ethics, and if I never talk on a phone or use the internet again, I will not give them another penny of my money.

This story doesn't surprise me at all. It wouldn't surprise me either if that information was passed on to th RNC or the White House.

[dredge]

04:26 PM on 11/21/2008

Hey..
Barack voted for retroactive immunity. until he gets into office and..(if he were really committed to a return to constitutional government) dismantles the Homeland Security apparatus , he'll just have to deal with being spied on like the rest of us.

[dredge]

04:23 PM on 11/21/2008

Hey..
Barack voted for retroactive immunity. until he gets into office and..if he were really committed to a return to constitutional government..he'll just have to deal with being spied on like the rest of us.

[ChristianEcon.com]

05:17 PM on 11/21/2008

Good point. He actually shouldn't mind at all.

[iusedtocare]

02:15 AM on 11/22/2008

Agreed, dredge. Obama paraded all around Wisconsin with Senator Feingold during the primaries. Remember what he said? "I am proud to stand with Senator Feingold on FISA." Oops! When the votes were in - guess what - he didn't.

Another liar in the White House.