(CNN) - 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."
Verizon reported the breach Thursday, and Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs said the transition team had been notified Wednesday. Gibbs said the president-elect no longer uses that phone, which has been inactive for months.
The fired employees were hired "to take care of customers," the Verizon source told CNN, and were not authorized to access customer records unless asked to do so by the customer.
The source also said the employees in question could not have read text messages, if Obama sent or received them, and would not have been able to access the content of any voicemail messages, although they would have been able to see if any had been left.
"This was some employees' idle curiosity," the source said, adding that records of no other customers of note were breached.
Ari Schwartz of the Center for Democracy and Technology said the employees likely had access to the dates and times of calls, the length of calls and the telephone numbers of those Obama spoke with.
Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam said Thursday that the company initially put on leave all employees who had access to the account - "whether authorized or not" - during an investigation.
McAdam said the device on the account was a simple voice flip-phone - not a BlackBerry or other smartphone designed for e-mail or other data services - meaning none of Obama's e-mail could have been accessed.
Verizon Wireless, meanwhile, has launched an internal probe to determine if Obama's information was shared only among employees or whether "the information of our customer had in any way been compromised outside our company, and this investigation continues," McAdam said in an internal company e-mail obtained by CNN.
The company has alerted "the appropriate federal law enforcement authorities," McAdam said.
– CNN's Brian Todd and Ed Henry contributed to this report
From CNN Politics
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Can you fire (hear) me now?
Neocon spies
The same high school dropouts have access to YOUR phone records too. Since YOU are not a "person of note" no one will ever know what they do with that info. Food for thought.
Well, I guess the matter is closed now, but I don't think I would have fired them. I would have transferred them somewhere where they couldn't do any harm. It's a tough time to get fired, even if it was their fault.
serves them right
Isn't that considered eavesdropping and can they be jailed for that?
I was against the government being able to get people's cell phone records without a warrant. That was and still is unconsititutional. This is wrong too.
Now if only they can fire the NSA people for spying on us.
I realize that The Presidential position is am important one (although I still can't figure out why, since 'President' is a title of the highest rank of civil servitude – meaning he works for us, the people) but would this not be completely legal by the Patriot Act?
Why would they be punished?
Verizon is one of the telecom companies given retroactive immunity by the Patriot Act. So, they get in trouble for accessing records they keep on a user that just happens to be Obama, but they are totally fine for not only accessing, but recording all of ours? If these records are so important, then stop recording his cellphone whereabouts. You just as easily can pinpoint mine and record it, so do the opposite for him and we wouldn't have to be fed this garbage.
Can I alert the appropriate authorities on the recording of my emails, phones and even this very comment? I'd like my coupon to not be spied on by the 1984 big brother machine sooner, rather than later please.
Unfortunately in this age of instant news and everyone wanting a scoop on something, the temptation looks to be too tempting sometimes. We had the breach of Palin's email looking for something scandalous and this, probably hoping to find out something as well. Perhaps the need for everyone to feel that we all need to know everything has gone too far.
What a lesson those people learned. But it's a lesson that should be taken to heart. Too many people snooping where they have no business is never a good idea. Hope they find jobs soon. It's not a very good time to be unemployed. (If you're fired, you cannot get unemployment pay).
So? Why? I still can't understand all this Trsh about Obama..
It will be like teaching a Kid: Poker...
Yet Black's, and Obama wilol take all the "Winnings' For having No Skills at-all... Real Stupid OBAMA won only because ghe was Black (First) and .Young (second)... No Skills!
I would think so!!! And wouldn't at all be surprised to find out they were paid by outsiders to provide those records....wonder who?
we now consider this matter closed."
I Don't we should see Verizon CEO and the specific employees brought up on charges and verizon should be hit with LARGE fines... say $25 billion, if they are doing this to him are they doing it to us? No one cares if they do it to us! the telecommunications companies feel they can now spy on Americans without reprecussions because bushie, along with the liar hillary who voted FOR it, approved amnesty to the telecommunications people once already for spying on us!
Wow, can you imagine the audacity of these jerks,what the heck is going on...?
Good, its a breach of privacy.
And they should have been fired. Not because it's O'bama, because they shouldn't be looking at anyone's records unless it's in the line of work.
I think the people in Ohio that got into Jo the plumbers records should be fired before these people.
Yet when they went through Joe the Plumbers and Sarah Palins records and phone calls they kept their jobs. Double standard much?
Does it bother anyone else that random employees can access any customer's records, regardless of their particular identity? Shouldn't that be possible only with some identifying information provided by the customer? Egads.
How come these employees were fired, and the woman who sent the employees to search Joe the Plumber's records only got a small suspension....gee two different standards...happens every time.
What a bunch of dumb@$$.
Before the conspiracy theorists jump on this, it should be noted that idle curiosity is a widespread human characteristic. Such people should be removed from temptation, however, as they could produce at least the appearance of impropriety on the part of some greater entity - which I'm sure will be confirmed by the theorists in short order.
Well; isn't it something that they fired these employees, but didn't do anything about Joe the Plumbers phone records being breached. I say Joe's phone records were just as important as Obama's. So Verizon was wrong in firing those employees. The others weren't fired. I say give them their jobs back.
I had always heard "rumors" about cell phone companies, banks and credit card companies having not so ethical employees that would check information on family, celebrities, "friends” and neighbors, just to be nosey, gossipers or just plain cruel. I guess this puts these types of actions in the lime-light...finally
Good they were fired, we don't need any spies in Verizon!!
what a shame. Curiosity always kills the cat.
Barack should follow suit and FIRE anyone on his team that engages in leaks.
He should not call on news organizations that promote or publish false or leaked stories.
I want to see this thing tightened up .... I don't want the kind of environment we've had for the last 8 years.
Teach the media that fast and loose is a thing of the past.
No better for them, I hope none of them have families. Because now is not the time for anyone to loose their job over something stupid.
My question is how many other of the thousands of Verizon employees are snooping through our private records out of "idle curiosity?"
Its time to re-strengthen our privacy laws to protect consumers!
And so they should have been.
Maybe they thought they were inacting the Patriot Act.
"This was some employees' idle curiosity," the source said, adding that records of no other customers of note were breached."
Apparently, it is acceptable for Verizon employees to breach the records of customers so long as they are not "customers of note."
TyWebb-your post is the gold standard now. that's the funniest post i've read all day. thanks for that.
President-Elect Obama, Please have the White House sweep before you step foot in there again! Especially when Bush exits and now that you've hired Hillary and Bill Clinton Mrs. Secretary of State and Mr. Secretary. This is a partnership that is divisive and sneaky. I hope that you truly have your back watched.
Doesn't Verizon do due dilligence on their employees? What happened to integrity?
At least we know who has been leaking all the staff positions
Two strikes and you're out Peeping Toms and Tomasenas!
That's what they get for being nosy!!
I heard someone on CNN said that Obama caused these people to get fired...are you kidding me?
OK...say I work at a bank and I steal all of the money out of your account and the bank finds out and fires me for it...Then I say it's all your fault that I got fired. Make sense? I don't think so!
If you work in an industry where you have access to people's personal information, you sign a confidentiality agreement saying that you promise to keep that confidentiality or you can be fired or prosecuted. These employees clearly violated a customer's privacy and stole their information. They should be fired and prosecuted if they gave those records to anyone outside the company.
I am glad to know that Verizon Wireless is taking this seriously.
As a Verizon Wireless customer, I am pleased to know that my privacy is protected.
I will never switch – Verizon has been good to me.
LOL Who did they Fire?? McCain and Palin??? So that's was where they got their info from for there ads........lol
And they should have been......
Re: Obama School choice for family
Security is a must for this family, so please quit the nasty attacks and wish the future US First Family well. Barack Obama and his wife Michelle were not raised with silver spoons, or government handouts, so let's work together a help this newly elected President make the much needed necessary changes. PEACE!
glad they got fired. this has got to stop. not only for PE Obama but for all of us. I wouldn't want my records viewed either. where are your manners???
Afganistan... Russia has got you and the World, Cleaning up their mess, while they build idea's on Europe... Poland, first... Then pick off unsuspected small Countries... Another 1939 Plus;...
serves them right...
Of course these folks should have been fired. But this was not national news. Just a bad choice by a few dimwits.
But the Obama folks made it headlines as a repeated story as a veiled warning – don't question Obama. Got it? They Will Find You.
Did anyone notice the Gross Over-reaction: "Verizon ... initially put on leave all employees who had access to the account — "whether authorized or not"" Maybe the ones who were authorized were just THINKING of doing harm (thought police?)
They should be fired. Now the Ohio state employee that dug into Joe the Plumber's record should be fired as well. But will the democrats in Ohio do the right thing?
Apparently the employees who violated the constitution in order to provide customer information (without warrant) to the government were hired to, well, I guess violate the constitution and to hell with the customers.
Did they fire them too?
We all know the answer to that one – NO, not only weren't they fired, the company lobbied to the tune of millions of dollars, along with AT&T, to make sure they weren't even held accountable.
Can we spell h-y-p-o-c-r-i-t-e-s?
Ditto to what Terry in AZ said.
get use to it...do not go against the 'great oz'....
I think that the school choice that President Elect Obama and his family made for their girls should not have been announce in the news; for the safty of the kids....
Can't say I wouldn't have done the same thing ... Kinda like when the UCLA medics got fired for releasing Britney's information. Curiosity kills!
What's with the suspended "with pay"?
Oh, you mean the Patriot Act didn't protect them?
I guess the unemployment rate is now that much closer to be 7%.
Good luck in this job market. I hope your house gets foreclosed on.
They should be executed on Pay Per View!
Maybe Congress should look into this, since they don't have anything else they seem to be able to handle.............
since they did not need their jobs can get this job
What's the big deal? If he's done nothing wrong, he has nothing to hide, right? Right?
The government tracks all our calls all the time. Someone found the actual hardware that does it (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Room_641A).
Obama voted to grant amnesty to the phone companies that facilitated this illegal domestic spying. If he changes his stance, I'll change mine.
Why is this a problem? The government, with the help of companies like Verizon and AT&T, has been tracking and monitoring all of our phone calls since before 9/11. Obama didn't oppose this when it came time to vote. Turnabout is fair play, no?
Of course they should be fired. Their actions violate Customer proprietary network information (CPNI) FCC regulation. This applies to all customers, not just Obama.
They were probably republican spies. Serves them right getting fired. It's illegal to access phone records. Corporations have employees committing acts of crime every day, I'm just glad they got caught!
yes i agree they should have kept it professional at ALL times no matter what ...you know what they say curiosity ALWAYS kills the cat!!
I'm glad that the whole thing was taken care of.
I am also glad that they fired them, instead of suspending them with pay.
Shows how easy it is for others to peer into our lives. Kudos to Verizon for firing the employees. Question – are you doing the same for us "regular folks"?
I'm not surprised at any bad behavior on the part of Verizon or its employees. Their standards are abhorrent.
Just have to wonder if they were here in the US or at a call center somewhere else like India? We have too much data exposed to too many people in too many countries
Verixon Wireless has lost my support. How do I know they will not do it to average like me. When these idiots are bored they could easily page through your stuff after you contacted them for somethign. I do not trust Verizon Wireless now.
Funny how the woman who illegally accessed Joe the plumber's files was merely suspended a month without pay, but not fired. I know he is not as important as the President, but equal time for equal crimes.
These employees had the same "idol curiosity" that W has given to the NSA to spy on all our phone calls, cell or land lines. What happened to Obama is the SAME thing happening to all our calls thanks to W. Who is going to fire the NSA? The "appropriate federal law enforcement authorities" are not going to do anything about it or else they would have to stop spying on all Americans. We have all been in the mindset of anything to keep us safe, due to the fear monger in office, and we can't stop any of this now. Thanks George.
Those dummies didn't read about Watergateand don't expect to file a law suit, you can't win.
Employess were fired for hacking into Obama's cell phone records-
what's the punishmnet for the person who hacked into Sarah Palin's e-mail? That case was a worse offense since the person published the information on a websire.
MUST HAVE SOMETHING TO HIDE.
Gee, and there I was hoping we would find out how connected he was to Bill Ayers !
I don't want them looking at my records unnecessarily either. Fire them!
hahahah stupid i wirk for ATT you never do that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! against company policey
Send these varmints to jail....then they'll think twice before pulling another stunt like that.
they spy on us
but god forgive if you spy on them
this is a clear message to anyone else who would want to unwarrantedly poke their nose in other people's private life be it the President of the US or any ordinary citizen.....serve them verizon ex employers well..and please not unemployement benefits for these suckers
Firing the employees involved is exactly what ANY of the phone companies would do. It is a serious code of conduct violation to even access any customer's account records without that customer's express permission. I work for one of the major phone companies and, believe me, everyone who works iin the telecom industry is absoluitely aware that they will be harshly disciplined – likely termination of their employment – for this type of behavior.
Maybe now you will FOCUS!!!
Let's get together and be alright... How Stupid America.. You allowed an Idiot to Demoralise, an Hero.. There is no Together...
Just Men! Real Men!.. He has done nothing for America... Nothing.
He is Black. Period... They keep making up Trash, about Obama...
He is in Line for "The Presidency... But He Is Garbage... He is Black.
He is Young.... America/// Now You start to Eat Dirt...
Obama is an Idiot that nobody in thew Real World would Elect for a Jr Executive Position... This Your Choice!!! You have to be dum..
The World goes on... America goes Backwards...
I would like to know how this even came to light. Is someone in the gov paid to spy at the phone company? I bet our tax dollars are involved. If he doesn't have the phone anymore, why are we talking about it? How about fix the economy and worry about something important, that doesn't include where the First children are going to school!
If you want the Verizon employees punished for hacking into Obama's cell phone records, then you have to crucify the guy who hacked into Sarah Palin's e-mail since he not only hacked into it but published it on a web site?
What say you????
Verizon was probably one of the phone companies Bush BS'd into spying on regular folks so now they get rightous...thats laughable
I would like to hear if this was a bunch of nosy employees, or a group of covert Republican operatives planted for the campaign.
We should not be surprised if Verizon employees think they're above the law. Verizon (and AT&T) agreed to spy on U.S. citizens WITHOUT A WARRANT for the Bush administration six months before 9/11. Kudos to Quest for not going along!
@ jon – get over it, hater. Obama's in the "House" now. stop cryin.
Who ever it was they should have and the manager/supervisor also. These people must not have been vetted! President-Elect Obama should not have to go through this mess. I wonder what goods they have on the Clintons, Bushes, Chaney's, Rumsfelds, Swartskoffs etc. I am sure that Verizon is not the only cell phone company that has made this mistake and mess of someone's life.
It was a stupid thing to do and who cares who Obama is calling and receiving phone calls from. Besides, how can you tell when it only reads just a number. It's not like it reads 903-555-5555 Bill Clinton. It was none of there business and good that they fired them. Just makes me wonder who else's records they are looking into.
Good they should have been. How unprofessional. I never like Verizon anyway. Some people just can't be given responsibility.
I wonder if Verizon outsources their customer calls to a generic call center or if they are legitimate VERIZON customers.
People need to understand that when they call their 800 number for health insurance, whatever....it MAY NOT BE THE COMPANY YOU THINK IT IS...meaning these companies employ people to work in a BIG call center that handles several different customers.
I got a call from Embarq soliciting phone service, and when I asked about call completion and dropped call statistics, the rep couldn't answer, because the rep was OUTSOURCED to a CALL CENTER COMPANY. That wouldn't have happened if they legitimately worked for the company.
Call centers are a BIG business. Go investigate, and wonder about which $8 an hour employee is accessing YOUR personal information.
Can any of the fired peepers send me Bill Ayers number? I'm so desparate to have a chart with him, pls!
Wow, glad I'm not a Verizon customer, I would hate to be worried about my phone. I hope AT&T hasn't been doing anything like that to my phone.
Bonnie, yes, Verizon, and all the other major telecommunications companies (besides Qwest, I believe) have been shipping all their telephone and internet traffic through computers run by the NSA. They've been doing it since before 9/11. Privacy is a fundamental right, but the telcos are not interested in protecting it.
Good move by Verizon. The current administration has set a tone that violating civil rights and abuse of power is ok. It is not and the new administration will address quickly and restore our faith in the system.
Bonnie, Las Vegas November 21st, 2008 6:23 pm ET
Shows how easy it is for others to peer into our lives. Kudos to Verizon for firing the employees. Question – are you doing the same for us "regular folks"?
---------------------------------
Are you kidding me? Do you really think that any service provider would fire their employees for breach any other individuals?
Now how about firing Dick Cheney and the rest of his hoodlums for spying on our phone records?
I wish the Republicans here would just get a grip on reality! YOU LOST! After what your GUY has done and is still trying to do.... I think you would want to just crawl under a rock and hide your faces for shame! Instead, you continue to whine and criticize.... it boogles the mind! No, it doesn't! It is what you do best!
UNLESS it is YOUR GUY!
I have a friend who used to work at a bank, and she got in trouble a few years ago because she accessed our current president's bank account info. No harm intended–she was just being nosy. For her trouble, she spent several hours being grilled by federal law enforcement agents. Funny, though–she also poked around in Stephen Malkmus' account and no one seemed to care.
Does it surprise anyone he chose the same school Chelsea went to? Everything else in his campaign is Clinton – why not his children's school?
Now that this has happened to a high profile personality like President Obama, I would like to know if Verizon is willing to admit that cellphone networks are generally vulnerable to breaches of all kinds. For almost a year now, I have been complaining about my ex-girlfriend hacking into my account.
What parameters has Verizon put in place, across the board, for customer service employees accessing account info, so those of us who are customers are not violated the same way Obama was?
Funny,
When Palins email got hacked, every Democrat around thought it was Ok to reveal her emails accounts. They all said she should have to let everyone see them. But NOW,,, the Messiah has his phone hacked and heads will roll.
"Bonnie, Las Vegas November 21st, 2008 6:23 pm ET
Shows how easy it is for others to peer into our lives. Kudos to Verizon for firing the employees. Question – are you doing the same for us "regular folks"?"
Nope. Actually, Obama caved and signed this past summer's new FISA bill that immunizes the telecom companies who helped in Bush's illegal wiretapping crimes (let's face it, they're not policies, they're constitutional violations!). So the thousands of "regular folks" whose records have been accessed and copied for government databasing have no recourse against such behavior. Republicans and Democrats alike have sold our rights to privacy and rights against unlawful search and seizure.
They just made some one victim of circumstances for lack of their processes.. Shame Verizon!!! You should fire the whole bunch of guys who failed to put in the processes in place with respect to the security. This is like firing the thief but not the person who kept the vault open !!! Shame Verizon !!! Explain your security processes to your customers in your website!!!
I didn't think anyone in customer service worked in the USA. I always get some guy in India.
so does this show up on their back ground checks?
MikeH...BTW ur spot on!!!
Verizon is the spy's phone company of choice. Tmobile all the way!
GOOD. they got what they deserved.
he should have been with AT&T!
What a shame. That was a stupid thing to do and they are paying a very dear price for it.
My bet is that Obama would not have wanted them fired. That is not the kind of guy he is.
He did not want Lieberman fired and he did WAY worse things.
Obama is not a vengeful man. I wish I was half as kind as he is.
I am glad those idiots got fired! You do not violated other people's rights and now they are paying for not respecting President-elect's rights. This will teach them a lesson.
That's why you go At&T! Verizon sux...
Invasions into our privacy is happening more and more. Hospital records are obtained and shared. Employees download lists of social security numbers. Recently, a federal employee (who began dating a prisoner who is a gang leader in southern California) downloaded a list of all prisoners who were members of rival gangs.
This just didn't happen 10-20 years ago...are we becoming more snoopy, less careful with private information, or just willing to do anything (even break the law) in order to get our hands on someone else's personal data? What's up with these people? Is it simply that technology is making all this information available, and employees simply aren't as trustworthy as they should be?
I'm sure these Verizon employees have looked into other people's records....ex boyfriends, ex girlfriends, ex friends, husbands, wives, you name it. Abuse of their job. Glad tey got fired....AND they shouldn't be able to collect unemployment either....that should be only given to the people who have been laid off due to the economy!
Best comment: TyWebb!! thanks for that
why did it take so long? if this had been any other 'president elect' they'd have been fired as soon as it happened.
What's the big deal? Aren't all of our calls being monitored?
When you breach into someone's personal records and life you should pay the price for doing so, I do not feel sorry for anyon including these goofs who screw up. They knew exactly what they were doing, not they lost there jobs..... more people should be made to face the music
Verizon was one of the telecos that got "pardoned" at the request of the Bush Administration, and it is ironic that Obama, although he didn't like that particular provision of the FISA bill, voted for the after-the-fact but before-the-investigation pardon. It just goes to show that no "good" deed goes unpunished...
The telecos should have all been investigated and charged with any crimes that may have been committed by their eavesdropping on behalf of Bush.
Isn't this illegal? Or did Bush take care of that for the phone companies?
well done.
that's what companies do everyday & everytime!
even our information is been breached in india & china because of GW oursourced American jobs.
THERE IS NO PRIVACY IN AMERICA!!!
WE ARE LIKE SHEEPS WITH 666 MARKED ON OUR FOREHEAD!!!!
THE QUESTION IS WHO IS NEXT?
People have been fired for less. They got what they deserved.
Idle time at Verizon can be costly!
Funny, I remember when Palin's email was hacked into and the Obama supporters thought it was funny and no big deal but when it happens to their messiah it is a matter of upmost importance. It happens, get over it. Hypocrites.
That's more like it!
With all the wiretappings going on via Bush's WOT, why didn't Homeland Security discover this?
Breaching someone's phone records, is an unbelievable act of invasion of privacy. Whether it be a President-elect or Joe the Plumber, no one should be able to access the records of a private citizen. What were these people thinking? Did they seriously believe they would getaway with it? If having brains was a disease, these idiots would be the healthiest folks on the planet. Fired is what they deserve and never being able to work in the information field again, is something else that should be imposed. Give them a shovel and Joe's phone number.
Good for the Obamas. I'd put my kids in a private school, even if I weren't President. You people just want something to complain about. They have the right to put their kids where they feel most comfortable, and don't have to answer to anyone for their decisions regarding their kids.
a new bunch of no bodies (wanting their 15 minutes of fame e.g. Joe the Plumber). Fire them and prosecute them.
Another set of double standards.
People were put on leave if they even had access to Obama's records and then fired.
The employees who looked at a citizen who didn't agree with Obama? Well, they just got a slap on the wrist.
Why? Isn't the common citizen important any more?