WASHINGTON (CNN) - Records from a cell phone used by President-elect Obama were improperly breached, apparently by employees of the cell phone company, Verizon Wireless said Thursday.
"This week we learned that a number of Verizon Wireless employees have, without authorization, accessed and viewed President-Elect Barack Obama's personal cell phone account," Lowell McAdam, Verizon Wireless president and CEO, said in a statement.
"All employees who have accessed the account - whether authorized or not - have been put on immediate leave, with pay."
The Obama transition team was notified Wednesday by Verizon of the breach, said team spokesman Robert Gibbs. He said the president-elect no longer uses the phone.
From CNN Politics
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How about leave with no pay...How about FIRED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
No cause for alarm people. Those Verizon employees worked for the NSA.
who cares?
Here's what you do Barack.
Call Sarah Palin and Joe the Plumber to find out what the ACLU can do to get to the bottom of this...they'll be the first to help.
Given the distresses in our economy, those employees took great risks! They are fortunate to have kept their jobs! BUT: Next time you're OUT!
Well, I see the phone companies are STILL spying on Americans for the Bush Administration.
Can't wait for America's eight year nightmare to be over on January 20, 2009
The employees were Republicans, and if there was any "dirt" to be found, it would be on the Drudge report already.
The Republicans will stop at nothing to destroy this man.
Whoever did this should be prosecuted ..
Secondly to you right-winger who dare to bring up Joe the "Unlicensed Plumber" .. as i see you folks are doing ...
Let me clarify something to you folks ... Obama didn't authorize the access of Joe's Personal records ... Secondly if you want to blame someone blame Mac .. he brought him in the spotlight by bringing up his name about over 15 times in the debates .. no one would've known about Joe if it wasn't for Mc Cain
Add this to the list of "Things to Do to Earn a CIA Interrogation."
Wait this is too funny! So you Liberals want whoever did this to be prosecuted, yet when some punk kid broke into Sarah Palin's email account you thought it was funny and felt you deserved to know the content of her private emails? Oh the hypocrisy of the stupid Liberal left continues.
Yeah, why would you do that?
Dumb
Those people should all be fired immediately.
What else is new,privacy no longer exists.Cells phones can now be hacked to the point that people can listen to you if its turned on or not.I just read it in P.C Magazine.Big Brother knows everything we say and do.
And so they're back to their old dirty tricks. Can't they just go away quietly
and with some amount of dignity? Those repugs are the the worse group of failures and sore losers. They will lie, cheat, steal, and sell their very souls to the devil. They need to go away and concern themselves with other things and leave the country alone, so we can try to salvage what's left of it after the horrific last 8 years. Please! go away!
Very disappointing to learn that it is the usually well respected Verizon behind this breach.Since they obviously know which employees were involved why are they on " paid admin leave"?.I hope this warrants federal prosecution this is a serious matter and should be dealt with harshly.
"""""immediate leave, with pay."""""
i just don't get the ""With Pay""" part!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wow can't a president use anything owned by a private US company without his security being breached?
Does this mean that Obama will have to switch to some government ran cell phone company?
btw, what service does bush use, or does bush even use a cell phone?
big deal!
Idiots, if we're lucky.
Stupid if these people were joping to do someting malicious.
Hey "Another O" .– "better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt." Grow up! This was a handful of stupid phone company employees who thought they could get away with something. They need to be FIRED, not suspended, and then prosecuted. Do you want the people at YOUR phone company looking at YOUR records? I don't either. My phone conversations are just as private as Barack Obama's, and if somebody peeks at them I want them canned like a Christmas ham.
Verizon should thoroughly investigate this matter, fire everyone involved and turn their information over to the Justice Department for possible criminal prosecution.
Oh please, do you really think the republicians are the only ones that have ever done this kind of thing? Anyone remember the situation of Michael Steele in Maryland?
Everyone jumps to conclusions, is there any evidence that says a republican ordered this or is it a curious employee of Verizon?
People need to get a clue, even if this was not politically motivated and simply curiosity the bottom line is all politicians are liars and crooks.
Big deal, Bush & Cheney have been listening in on ALL our phone calls for the last 7 years!
They were probably just curious ...i would be lol
As president, maybe he'll be able to take care of that problem. Telephone companies–necessary evils.
Hey, "Another O and Joe supporter"
Where in the report did it say this was politically motivated, let alone a Republican that accessed the records?
Sounds like it was one of you Obama-bots trying to get some street cred for knowing who the big "O" talks to.
Leave with pay? Why aren't these people in a windowless room with a bright light, lack of sleep and the threat of prison. This is a breach of National Security, we should be demanding to know why they are spying into the Presidents personal information.
He should have used to AT&T...
I am curious to know how this was discovered?
Why are any of our phone/internet records not kept securely? IWhat is security anymore? Either have it or do not! Why is it a Federal crime to steal from mail from a country mail box? Stealing is a sin that all seem to agree has remained a sin unlike other problems we can't seem to pull together on. Why not have it be a Federal crime to take any private information from another that is not just hear say? The revenew from the fines would probabley be great plus we can shut these creeps up & expose them like sex violaters. An additional bonus is that they will lose their voting rights forever making counting easier. Just call me for anymore great ideas! I would love to smear tactic types finally go to hell.
Gosh, guess Obama wont be the only one in on that call at 3am!!
What a moron! Can we expect him to keep secrets when he is prez?
This is simple stuff folks, and O doesnt get it!!
from "Logic" – "Obama didn't authorize the access of Joe's Personal records " – what line of reason and forensic investigation led you to this bold statement?
Yeah and a mob boss doesn't personally pull the trigger in a mob hit.
Think beyond the cartoon image and question the government, even Obama, always....
When confronted and caught, Verizon gave the employees time off with pay. They were likley union employees and could not be fired - this is what is wrong in America – at the auto companies, cities and towns, states, US government, and anywhere else theree are unions.
Why can't Verizon do what is right, and simply fire the employees on the spot
"With Pay"?
Are you kidding, this is the president! They should be FIRED!!!!
Presindent elect Obama needs to toss his cell phone away - and only use secure lines from now on --
Privacy went out the window 7 years ago thanks to the terrorist who never should have been allowed to enter our country in the first place. So now we have to pay the price, but come on...Obama's privacy should no more be violated than that of President Bush's. This situation should be handled in a more serious manner than the "violators" being put on leave WITH PAY. That is nothing more than a vacation at the security of our country's expense.
immediate leave... WITH pay....
Quite a union they have there.
Do an unauthorized record search, and get a vacation, just in time for the Thansgiving holiday.
It is time we get serious with these telecom hackers and snoopers. For the fact that this is a President-to be, Verizon should have enforced tighter security on his account from the moment Obama became the President elect. Verizon should without delay, turn over this scrupulous employee to the FBI for immediate prosecution. All other people with Verizon account, be ware!
Uh-Oh, there onto us, we gotta hide, LOL!! Na'h, I'm playing, I'm playing...
With so many stuff I've seen over here in the hood I would recommend EVERYBODY to be careful in what they use, who they talk to or what they do. Because if his cell phones records can be breached, imagine other peoples...
Wait, even those who accessed the account with authorization were put on leave with pay? So people were authorized to do something that required disciplinary action, and then the people that weren't authorized didn't even get fired? Ridiculous!
Maybe I shouldn't renew my Verizon contract in January...
Wonder if O'Reilly and the rest of the right wing nutjobs at Fox News will be as outraged over this as they were about the kid who breached Palin's Yahoo mail account. Hmmm...probably not.
Whoever claims Obama politicized "Joe the Plumber" is either naive or lying to say the least. Obama met Joe the plumber once in a Campaign stop and had an honest exhange of information.
IT WAS McCAIN THAT TOOK THE STORY AND BLEW IT OUT OF PROPORTION. McCain was singing Joe the Plumber like a lyric all through his Campaign as if Joe the Plumber is smarter than any other American. We know what the result of that was, right?
Wait a minute. Wasn't it Barrack's mastery of the cell phone and email that was one of the reasons why he should have been president? I seem to remember an ad campaign pointing out that McCain shouldn't be president because he couldn't use email. Well, at least he didn't get hacked.
So, what is the rate when you go over your minutes talking to Oprah?
Besides, Barry shouldn't have anything to worry about. One 'social' visit by his good buddy Bill Ayers and I'm sure Verizon will stop.
And Obama08, with your little claim of Republican involvement, quick, get under your bed. The black helicopters are hovering over your mommy and daddy's house right now! They're on to you!
but the good people of the world will catch you and
put you criminals away and toss the key away forever, mossad!
If anyone who moaned about the lipstick fido's e-mails being breached and doesn't have a problem with this instance, they are completely clueless and totally partisan. The guys who hacked her hacked into her e-mails are in big trouble as should be the Verizon employees (Obama haters???) who did this. Any righties here have a disagreement with that?
This is no surprise to me. I worked in the cellular world for almost ten years. The retail staff in these stores are mostly younger, with no college degree, and the turn over rate is very high. This was probably some kid that couldn't resist temtation once he figured out Barack Obama had Verizon. This will probably happen at his credit card companies too. Someone being nosey and checking his statement, just because they have the access. I dont believe its a huge conspiracy.
I don't care what motives they had, political or not, the idiots should be fired.
Time off with pay, nice vacation for them.
I think the Bush/Cheney administration authorized the breach.
For fun.
If a student who breached Palin's public email account was prosecuted by federal authorities, why aren't these employees being prosecuted?
All cell phones can now be hacked.Spies can listen to your conversations even if the phone is turned off.Read PC magazine or google it.
"When confronted and caught, Verizon gave the employees time off with pay. They were likley union employees and could not be fired — this is what is wrong in America – at the auto companies, cities and towns, states, US government, and anywhere else theree are unions."
What are you talking about?
American unions are weaker now than they have been since before the Great Depression - and there isn't a union in the country that can stop an employee from being fired if they break the law or don't meet the requirements of their employment agreements/contracts.
Stop regurgitating Rush Limbaugh's uninformed gibberish!
Where was this outrage from the Dems when Palin's email account was breached. If I recall you were all blaming her. How's bout noting that Obama should have stopped using a cell phone when he began his run.
with pay... so I pay my verizon bill to pay their salaries while they sit home and do nothing, or worse, they're in Hawaii or the Bahamas, WITH pay...
Its Obama's fault his phone records were breached. He shouldn't have sought the limelinght...he shouldnt have used an unsecure line. Obama is a big clown who should be making balloon animals for 5 year olds, not running the country.
Kim J: Actually, what we were blaming Palin for was using a personal e-mail account to transact state business. We didn't really blame her for getting the account hacked, just that she shouldn't have been handling government business through her personal e-mail. There are numerous reasons why the governor should not have done this, which I won't get into here. Suffice it say that Palin actually did something she shouldn't and there is no rule, ethics or otherwise, to prevent a presidential candidate from using his personal phone.
Good!!! Someone should be spying on this guy!!!!
Just like the dimwit in Tenn should be thrown in jail who hacked Sarah Palin email account, so should these idiots at Verizon. Although I hate the fact that Sarah Palin breathes that same air as me, right is right. And the President should be able to be human and do human things like...use his cell phone without people hacking into it. He is man who has a job, not a immortal God.
First, Palin should not have been using state computers for personal e-mails. No one should intrude on another person personal e-mail or cell phone no matter how tempting it is.
In my hometown Winnsboro, LA children in school can say Obama name while at school. Students we be reprimanded if so. Also, there in Winnsboro, LA at some diners you can not wear an Obama/Biden shirt into their business. In this small town you can mention President elect Obama at school nor eat in a public place with an Obama shirt on.
Isn't leave with pay just vacation.
Sweet!
Immediate leave without pay! Those people should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
Kim J–everything was made a big deal of where Palin was concerned. By the way, the person who hacked into her account was charged.
So, are all you Obamites that ripped Palin when her emails were hacked going to do the same to Obama for using a personal phone as a federal employee? It turns out that the Palin hacker is the son of a Democrat politician. So, where was your outrage then? Too funny!
Maybe the CEO dismissed them without pay because he's done it himself. I don't get rewarding bad behavior. Heck, do wrong and get a few days off, with pay, to go do a little christmas shopping, give me a fricking break! And where's the respect, he's the future President of the United States, for goodness sake!
Well-big whooop! Fire and charge them with the highest crime (s) allowed!
"Where was this outrage from the Dems when Palin's email account was breached. If I recall you were all blaming her. How's bout noting that Obama should have stopped using a cell phone when he began his run."
Palin was using an unsecure yahoo email address to do state business. Obama used his cell for campaign business, that's not exactly a security issue. So you can't begin to come pair him using his cell for campaign business to her using an unsecure yahoo email address for confidential state business. LET"S BE REAL!!
For Verizon President Does Not Punish Violators
Why are you so angry about union workers. You said probably, which means you donot actually know.
Before spreading rumors, check it out. You seem to follow the thoughts of management. We all know management could not be responsible for the expensive cost of salaries and golden parachutes. I wonder how many union workers would it take to equal just one of these guys payday?
LOL Barack stand in line with Sarah Palin and Joe the Plumber and ask how they felt when people looked at their private things. At least it wasn't democratic government officials like Joe. You liberals are a joke to complain because I remember the same names gloating a couple months ago thinking it was funny. Jokes on you now isn't it.
Obama and his team are not even worriesd about it. Like they said it was a "simple flip phone." It was probably one of his throw away phone. Some you need to quit making so much out of nothing and get over Mccain loosing the election to Obama.
Time to clean house and fire some people – none of this suspended without pay...they need to be fired and prosecuted.
I cannot believe that these people are on leave "with pay". In other words they are on vacation.
Patriot Act.
They needed to know all of Obama's contacts, so when Bush declares martial law, Blackwater Brownshirts can arrest and 'disappear' all who would be a threat to the new order.
After all, it may be a good that this happened to someone of the stature of President Obama. Now I can call the Verizon people and ask them again whether my ex-girlfriend (who has an unexplainable ability to always know with details who I am talking to) has breached my cellphone account. For at least five times, Verizon has told me that breaching or hacking are impossible and cannot happen to one of their customers; well, at least not to those not running for the presidency.
They were put on leave? LOL Shouldnt they have been fired??
And Verizon just lost their biggest customer-could you imagine the commercials they could have made.... STUPID people!!
Obama is turning out to be one leaky guy.
I want to be suspended WITH pay! I don't understand how this constitutes as punishment. If you mess up, you need to be punished somehow to set an example.
Why with pay???? I would be fired for that why werent they? Nice to know that our cell calls and records are privilaged information
can i get out of my verizon contract because of this
No problem since Obama voted the surveillance laws that Bush wanted and signed into law anyways. Obama's first act as president elect was to CHANGE his phone number.
Senator OB, I voted for you but is about time you puting some fresh leaders in your cabinet. I like to see a Hispanics on the supreme court and some more in your cabinet please. Don't forget about the chinese too.Some of the names we hearing already got their experince. Give someone else some experince . If you don't stop bringing all clintonians back, "you will not get my nomination" any more. Maybe you can learn from GWB. Diversity matters.
DOWN WITH VERIZON!
There goes those republicrooks again.....
Dig a little deeper, and under the pile of crap, you`ll find a Karl Rove " wanna`- be "......
Verizon has been spying on American citizens at the behest of the current administration for years.... My bet is that this was not random. I think Verizon should be investigated. If it was simply a few curious employees, so be it; they should be fired. If it was part of a larger operation, we deserve to know the truth. People thought Watergate was just a bunch of burglars at the beginning too.
Sooooo they got a vacation? (leave with pay = vacation) Okaaaay?! What do the employees get for NOT breaching personal phone records? fired?
I noticed where the Secret Service has confiscated Obama's Blackberry.
You union bashers are all morons. Verizon Wireless is a non-union company. Check your facts idiots.
To FAYE, NV November 21st, 2008 12:52 pm ET –
Although apparently basic mastery of the English language is not a requirement, as you well have pointed out in your post. But then again I'm sure your fellow Obamaholics will take your phony claims as truth, and further the rascist lie. I find it funny, the only people who bring up anything having to do with race are the Obamaholics themselves. Conservatives/Republicans only bring up the truth, that he's an inexperienced no talent hack.
This is very serious. Obama is the President Elect and has access to more detrimental contacts and information then Joe the Plumber and Palin combined. There is seriously no comparison.
Those of you that are enraged, what do you fear? That someone will find out that he calls some pretty questionable people?
Where was the outrage when a Democrat's son hacked Palin's email? All the talk that she was doing state business from that account is just that, nothing but talk. Guess anonymity makes know-it-alls out of some people.
It may have been as simple as one guy going "Whoa, you can see Obama's phone records. Should this be visible?" and then showing his co-workers, who agree it should be shown to the supervisor, and then the boss goes ballistic on them all. Not everyone is a thug or a knave, despite what this horrible election may have you believing.
It'so funny that even the 44th pres-elect of the U.S is not an exception to the dangerous and monster policies of the last 8years of phone spying.