Several Verizon Wireless employees stumbled upon the Pandora's Box of personal cellphone accounts, that of President-Elect Barack Obama, and couldn't help sneaking a peek. Luckily, the account was old and out-of-use, there's no indication that email records, voicemails or call contents were monitored, and at the very most the employees only got to see billing records, according to Verizon Wireless CEO Lowell McAdam. Oh yeah, and the employees are now fired.
PERSONAL CELL PHONE ACCOUNT OF PRESIDENT-ELECT OBAMA ACCESSED BY UNAUTHORIZED EMPLOYEES
BASKING RIDGE, N.J. – Verizon Wireless President and CEO Lowell McAdam made the following statement today:
"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. The account has been inactive for several months. 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.
"All employees who have accessed the account – whether authorized or not – have been put on immediate leave, with pay. As the circumstances of each individual employee's access to the account are determined, the company will take appropriate actions. 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.
We apologize to President-Elect Obama and will work to keep the trust our customers place in us every day."
