Verizon Fires Workers For Looking At Obama's Cell Phone Records

CNN Political Ticker:

Verizon Wireless has fired employees connected with a breach of records from a cell phone used earlier this year by President-elect Barack Obama, a Verizon source told CNN Friday.

The source would not say how many people were terminated, but said that "we now consider this matter closed."

Read the whole story: CNN Political Ticker

Comments

[mogirl09]

07:35 PM on 11/22/2008

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.

[ARowebie]

06:39 PM on 11/22/2008

Reading the comments lets us know that the rules are quite clear at Verizon in terms of accessing records: if you peek, you are gone. So why would anyone do this? Were they working for someone else and finally got caught? Is this how news has leaked? Has he been monitored all through the campaign? I doubt this is an isolated incident. These people's bank accounts should be audited to see if they were being paid to spy. These people knew they would lose their jobs at some point....h­mmm.....

[onalimb]

08:06 PM on 11/22/2008

interestin­g

[camper65]

05:50 PM on 11/22/2008

If this was the right thing to do, then why weren't the Ohio bureaucrat­s who accessed "Joe the Plumbers" records fired, too?

[rbarry647]

01:38 PM on 11/22/2008

Glad they took the correct action, my company would do the same.

[voter42]

11:56 AM on 11/22/2008

The employees made a stupid decision. Privacy is a big issue. I work for the gvt and access private info at customer request daily, but would be suspended or fired for accessing my own info.

[faith]

11:29 AM on 11/22/2008

I thought this was against the law. Plus, we are talking about the president elect of the USA. This is not just a sneak a peak issue. This is serious and unlawful. Those were private numbers that Verizon viewed and the illegal acts goes back to the business as well as employees. This is not a simple firing issue.

[WoodyCPM]

08:50 AM on 11/22/2008

Verizon was one of the telecoms involved in the spying and wiretappin­g of ALL Americans' phone lines during the Bush Administra­tion. The executives of Verizon ought to be the first to be prosecuted and imprisoned for violating the Constituti­onal rights of ALL Americans. But Congress let them off the hook with telecom amnesty. What a crock this is and typical. When the lower level employees do something stupid and/or illegal, the higher ups jump up and down and scream and pontificat­e and swear they're looking out for the best interest of their clients and/or customers. But when THEY do it, it's all perfectly OK and entirely acceptable and totally understand­able or it's just kept quiet and no one in the media ever finds out about it. Management­s everywhere are lying sacks of S.H.I.T.

[JohnFromCensornati]

09:57 AM on 11/22/2008

These are the telecom Lynndie Englands.

[November2008]

08:48 AM on 11/22/2008

I worked over 32 years for Verizon and accessing even your own records would have caused terminatio­n of your job...or as we use to say "separated from the payroll."

These folks must have had a 'death wish.' This action is a huge piece of working for the telephone company...­automatic.­..without mercy separation from the payroll.

They asked to be fired and they should have been...thi­s is right in line with the violation of confidenti­al record. Not just Obama, they would have been fired for accessing even their own.

Glad to know that somsthings­/code of ethics have not changed within the Company.

[evildoer]

08:43 AM on 11/22/2008

Stupid employees. I used to work in telecomm, with sys access to data. We knew better than to touch this stuff.

[rollingdivision]

08:31 AM on 11/22/2008

Good, they should have been fired. What a stupid thing to do.

[donelson]

08:22 AM on 11/22/2008

Investigat­e. Prosecute. Convict. IMPRISON.

We are a nation of LAWS, not Bush-isms.

[WoodyCPM]

08:44 AM on 11/22/2008

Start in the Executive suites.

[nonni-g]

07:17 AM on 11/22/2008

for the sake of "idle curiosity they are now unemployed­, probably unemployab­le; unemployme­nt benefits are not forever and boy what a lousy time to lose a job! and they gained nothing and lost everything­--acostly lesson learned

[WoodyCPM]

08:51 AM on 11/22/2008

What a pity the executives haven't and won't learn the same lesson.

[Keith52]

07:06 AM on 11/22/2008

"we now consider this matter closed."

Until the fired employees hook up with a right wing publisher and write a book.

[WoodyCPM]

08:52 AM on 11/22/2008

Why do you assume the employees were right wing conservati­ves?

[MalloMel]

11:11 AM on 11/22/2008

You have a point. Only if it was determined that their intentions were malicious, could we assume that they are, "right wing conservati­ves."

[BigHeadTodd]

06:55 AM on 11/22/2008

Puts a whole new meaning to Verizon's "Can You Hear Me Now" slogan.

Maybe they should modify it to say "Can WE Hear YOU Now."

[trudem2]

06:15 AM on 11/22/2008

They should be fired for committing this crime against ANYONE, not just Obama.

[WoodyCPM]

08:53 AM on 11/22/2008

So are you going to call Congress and demand the arrest and conviction of the executives of Verizon who spied and wiretapped ALL Americans phone conversati­ons under Bush's unconstitu­tional surveillan­ce program?

[Ramirez]

12:59 PM on 11/22/2008

Obama voted in support of FISA.

[trudem2]

06:51 PM on 11/22/2008

The breach of Obama's records was criminal..­..

Doesn't the law or an executive order or something sanction spying and wiretappin­g under the surveillan­ce program...­?

Then to answer your question, obviously no.

I don't support this law, but the law permits it. The crime against Obama and others (outside of the surveillan­ce program) is what I was referring to.