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

[ADinSC]

Didn't Obama vote for telecom immunity? I would call this "Karma". That being said, I'm betting these were just some nosy people.

[separatingwheatfromchaff]

It's against company policy to look into records unless you have a work order,same as monitoring a line remotely.T­hese kinds of security breaches have implications in so many situations­,divorces,­lawsuits ,shakedowns and whatever other reason you can think of.

[notconfindtweenhatnboots]

All Telecom Companies are in tight with John McCain, as he is the chair of that committee. This could have been costly to the election, had Obama been doing anything wrong. This just further shows that Obama is an honest and up-front person.

[emstrem]

You people sure do care about what happens to these people when it is Obama business. He is a big boy Im sure he can handle it. Wow, lets just fire everyone I guess that is good start.

[Ivar]

"You people", ..."these people" guess we know what color your neck is....smil­e. As Keith Olberman would say. YOU SIR are a very divisive person.

[DiBaskin]

First thing he is a man not a boy. Second it is an invasion of privacy. Why were they looking into Obama's personal business? If you work at a job and you violate the trust you should be fired. They knew that what they were doing was wrong.

[honeydiva]

yeah, I hope their a@@es are going to jail. I hope you do have a sensitive job and are caught spying on someone.. but I'm sure you'll be able to handle it.

[smarternu]

your a je"rk

[exxonmobil4prez]

I am not a president.­. I cannot believe there are people out here that actually think it's not a big deal to go through a president of the US phone calls and think he's got a job like the rest of us.. Can you say clueless people? That job is umm important??? Ya think? WOW

[Ramirez]

Invasion of privacy? Or an appropriate use of government funds and faciities?
Discuss

****************

Joe the Plumber case still dripping
Half-dozen agencies access records of Ohio man

By Dennis J. Willard
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Friday, Nov 14, 2008

The election is over, but the Joe the Plumber case is not.

Ohio Inspector General Tom Charles said his office is now looking at a half-dozen agencies that accessed state records on Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher.

The Beacon Journal has learned that, in addition to the Department of Job and Family Services, two other state offices " the Ohio Department of Taxation and Ohio Attorney General Nancy Rogers " conducted database searches of Joe the Plumber.

Wurzelbacher became an instant celebrity after he asked Barack Obama a series of questions in his Toledo driveway about the Democrat's tax policies. ...

http://www.ohio.com/news/34453464.html

[Forester]

This too is an unacceptable breach of privacy.

Politics should never trump our right to privacy.

[Horus45]

Leave WITH pay is no punishment, it is a vacation!

They do not only need to be fired they need to be prosecuted!

[DiBaskin]

I agree.

[SENATORCALLENBOWE]

HES TALKING TO THE CLASS OF THE NEW GENERATION :) WHO DID U EXPECT?

[paixa3]

These employees should be fired immediately and even tried in court, if there are applicable laws against this behaviour.

You will NEVER get your country back if you do not start throwing the real criminals in jail. Smoking a doobie is NOT a very serious crime, but your country seems to stuff many of them in prisons.

Your country IS the laughing stock of the world.

[Ramirez]

Our nation is the best country in the world. If not for America you people would be speaking German.

Laugh at that.

[warrenr]

And what, pray tell, is wrong with the German language?
It's actually more sensible than English in terms of how things are constructed.

[learnsomething]

Ramirez...­that tired line is stale, please don't use it anymore...­LOL

[Eoin45]

That was 63 years ago. A great number of the Americans that accomplished that (my father included) are deceased. This is not the same America, but you are the same old Ramirez.

[CeeCee]

Actually it could have been German, and it was nothing to do with World War Two. don't you know American history??

[nyquist27]

actually thanks to the Russians

[jtmoney]

what country are you from?

[BSERIUS]

GET OUR COUNTRY BACK FROM WHERE? Our Country is still the envy of the world. We stopped terrorism here after 9/11....We just came through a rancorous election cycle where almost 1/2 the country differed on who should be leader with no riots or bloodshed.­...We still have to deal with millions of illegals who risk everything to come here... AND we allow ignorant foreigners such as yourself to spew your filth in our media free of charge and free from censorship or imprisonme­nt... Your country is high

[learnsomething]

""GET OUR COUNTRY BACK FROM WHERE?" "

From the neo cons and their invasive tactics against US citizens.

[CeeCee]

Cool it! No need for this spewing of rage.

But.... "Envy of the world"?? I don't think so.

[Strywever]

Whoa, Nellie! "Filth"? Hyperbole serves no one well. Let's face it, we ARE the laughingstock of the world when it comes to the way we conflate criminality with immorality. And the enormous number of people who are in prison in this country simply because they use drugs IS ridiculous, as well as counter-productive.

So Paixa3 may have been exaggerating a bit, but not much.

It's wonderful to be defensive of our country, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't be able to listen to criticism with open minds. Some criticism is valid.

[Reaganwater]

On election night ,people all over the world cheered Obama and America. It must be sad for you not to be able to distinguish that from someone laughing in derision .
People vote with their feet as well -- toward America and probably away from your country and certainly away from you !

[DiBaskin]

What country do you live in? If your country is so great and you are so proud of it why not mention it . We may have problems but it is still a great country. I am proud to be an American and wouldn't want to live any place else.

[jtmoney]

When I was in college, I worked for Sprint PCS in a retail store. We would have all sorts of celebrities and atheletes come in. Once we had Stone Cold Steve Austin, the wrestler come in, and I had the tech print off his phone list. We were calling Vince McMahon, The Rock, Triple H and pretend we had the wrong number just for fun. So people need to not get worried, or stop with any conspiracy theories. It is just low level people that work there and they are being nosy. I know, because I used to be one of them.

[FrictionSoul]

Low level and low class. What's to stop you from stealing other people's identities? Maybe you already have.

Used to be? No, always will be. Scum doesn't evolve in a few years time, not even 80.

[CeeCee]

That's more than nosy. It's an invasion of privacy, and in the wrong hands, criminal.

[DiBaskin]

I don't know how old you are but this sounds very childish to me. Being curious is one thing. calling people up and pretending to have the wrong number is silly. This is beyond being nosy; it is an invasion of privacy.
Sounds more like low mentally.

[Strywever]

I disagree. The digital age we live in means that NO unauthorized access to private information can be considered harmless. It's simply too easy to disseminate information and profit from it.

[one4obama]

And just because they are low level (like yourself) that makes it all okey dokey?

You are nothing more than an a$$wipe!

[Strywever]

Why the ugliness? Do you talk like that to people you disagree with when you're face to face in polite company?

[aaronr2000]

I'm curious. How did this story break? Was it:

A) Somebody was about to embarrass Verizon for this breach and this is a PR attempt to preempt the negative publicity

B) Verizon just came out with this up front as a publicity stunt to show how now they are dedicated to the privacy rights of its customers.

C) This is a publicity stunt to show that it serves one of America's most famous sons. You know, "Hey everybody, Barack Obama uses Verizon, and so should you!".

D) All of the above

E) None of the above (please explain)

[ramblingjohnny]

I did not think of that but it sound like a clumsy way to announce that Obama is one of your client! It might well be all of the above!

[aaronr2000]

True, but think about it. He looses this service come January 20th anyway, and presidents are put on a very tight leash when it comes to product promotion while in office so to Verizon it may have been a risk worth taking. Publicity stunts are inherently clumsy and risky. Not saying that's what they were after, but I am curious.

[PATina]

I was thinking C. There are a lot of people who like to 'model' their lives after their idols. I can see a lot of people being proud that they had "good" judgment like President Obama in choosing Verizon... hahahahahahahaha

[Just2Fitz]

I agree. The most popular man in the world and he uses VW...!

[rollingdivision]

Should get them all fired.

[Orlandokat32746]

What I want to know is how I can be put on an immediate leave WITH pay??

Sounds sweet to me

[hortonhearsawho]

Watch for that fee charge on your next bill.

[jerrypenguin]

This is a conspiracy!!! The Verizon employees really are employees of Homeland Security, CIA, FBI, Trans-National Corporations, Israel, KGB, MI-5, the French, and Military Intelligence.

[SeattleCharles]

Follow that thought. You never can tell, can you.

[huffposeur]

i'm far more worried by govt employees -like those in ohio, who looked into joe the plumber's tax records- than i am by private citizens looking into the personal information of elected officials.

neither has a right to do so, but govt officials doing it for political reasons is a lot different than private citizens doing it for prurient reasons

[MikeGuy]

Tax records on real estate property is public record, and can be accessed on line in many states. I don't know of other tax records (personal income, etc.) of his that were illegally accessed.

[Ramirez]

Do you support the use of government facilities to investigate a private citizen for political purposes?


Take your time.

[Ramirez]

The actions of the Ohio officials are supported by the HuffPo left. Privacy rights only go so far.

[Vendeen]

The records they looked into -- property tax records and liens -- are a matter of public record. Go to your local courthouse & try it. Also, you might want to take a remedial civics lesson....­.

[notconfindtweenhatnboots]

...as are plumbing licenses, which are issued by the State. You can check on your plumber, electrician, real estate agent, hair stylist or dog groomer with the state and see if they are properly licensed. No invasion of privacy there.

[LMKay66]

I'm tired of hearing about poor Joe the Plumber's privacy being invaded. You have John McCain to thank for that. If not for him bringing up Joe's name a thousand times during a debate national TV, nobody would have known who this joker was. McCain turned him into his little mascot and made him part of his campaign. Therefore, he's public record.

[notconfindtweenhatnboots]

Absolutely agreed here! John McCain should be blamed 100% for trying to capitolize on someone that he didn't know or vet.

[brokenarrow]

VERIZON = huge doner to the GOP.......­..Buy Blue site has more on all this. I don't do business with them.

[Cookie100]

What'd they expect? Verizon has been spying on it's customers for YEARS! Just what the Boosh admin asked them to do.