Nosy Verizon Wireless Employees Canned Swift justice for the slow witted... Tipped by Revcb 
It appears that the nosy Verizon Wireless employees who couldn't keep their eyes off of President-elect Obama's billing information have been fired. After apologizing profusely, suspending the employees and promising swift justice for any invasion of privacy, Verizon now says several employees have been fired -- but did not identify how many. "This was some employees' idle curiosity," an anonymous Verizon source tells CNN. The nosy employees likely didn't violate the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, given that according to Verizon, they didn't access stored communications, voicemails, emails or instant messages.
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 | | They should be Fired Invasion of privacy is no laughing matter. Fire all of them. Every keystroke at a company that handles sensitive information is tracked. I'd have fired them day 2. Anyone that accessed the account, unless they chatted with Obama, would be out the door. Good way to get your company sued.
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Saving the world keeps me busy. However, I find Earth very primitive from my home planet of Krypton.
-Supergirl | |
|  | Jonbo298
join:2004-01-12
Council Bluffs, IA | Re: They should be Fired Did you even read the article or the headline for that matter. They DID fire the ones who had no authorization to access the account. | |
| | |  knightmbEverybody Lies
join:2003-12-01
Franklin, TN | Re: They should be Fired said by Jonbo298:Did you even read the article or the headline for that matter. They DID fire the ones who had no authorization to access the account. They did, but give a few minutes and others here will chime in that it's unfair that Obama gets "special treatment" when compared to the warrant less wiretapping laws. The fact is, Obama would have never known about it, from what I've read, Verizon discovered the issue, not Obama, the Secret Service, or anyone else for that matter.
So Verizon discovered people abusing access and took care of the matter. Verizon wanted to get some PR and decided to tell the entire world instead of just notifying Obama like they did, fire those responsible and just let drama no longer continue.
Instead, we keep hearing about this over and over, made out to be some serious security breach when it's nothing more than employees breaking the rules and getting fired over it.
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| | | |  SplitpairPremium
join:2000-07-29
Cow Towne
kudos:3 | Re: They should be Fired said by knightmb:The fact is, Obama would have never known about it, from what I've read, Verizon discovered the issue, not Obama, the Secret Service, or anyone else for that matter. Not so as Verizon once they discovered the problem is required to notify the subscriber in this case that being Obama or someone responsible for that account.
Wayne
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If you cannot fix it with a buttset and some beanies you ain't a technician.
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| | Warez_ZealotRural land of the rising sun
join:2006-04-19
japan | said by Jonbo298:Did you even read the article or the headline for that matter. I wouldn't expect anything less from a grown man who calls himself supergirl. | |
| | | |  TCubPremium
join:2008-09-03
Olmsted Falls, OH
kudos:4 | Re: They should be Fired LOL This got my laughing so hard! Nice one!  | |
| | | |  NY TelPremium
join:2004-04-09
Smithtown, NY
kudos:3
 ·AT&T CallVantage
1 edit | said by Warez_Zealot:said by Jonbo298:Did you even read the article or the headline for that matter. I wouldn't expect anything less from a grown man who calls himself supergirl. What?!!!!! Supergirl is a guy?
And ALL Verizon employees (me included) are/were forced to sign a policy that states which accounts you can look at and which ones you can't. You even have to watch a training film where there is a family (of actors)at Thanksgiving dinner and Joey the VZ employee asks his brother Mikey to look up call details on his girlfriend because he thinks she is cheating.
The mother thinks it is ok to do. Camera stops and we were asked to vote who was right and who was wrong.
So bottom line, you are told "do not look at accounts you do not have permission to look at" or face termination.
Ever notice that they ask you "do I have permission to view your account"......
So I saw people fired for accessing their relatives accounts, friends etc. The Obama issue is no different.
The employees were incredibly stupid. | |
| | | | | SplitpairPremium
join:2000-07-29
Cow Towne
kudos:3 | Re: They should be Fired said by NY Tel:The employees were incredibly stupid. And their employer is required to file a CPNI violation as detailed here »www.fcc.gov/eb/CPNI/Report.html .
FWIW a violation of CPNI is an escort out the door kinda thing no second chances no forgiveness.
Wayne
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If you cannot fix it with a buttset and some beanies you ain't a technician.
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|  NerdtalkerWorking Hard, Or Hardly Working?Premium,MVM
join:2003-02-18
Tucson, AZ | Funny how one would reasonably expect the same to apply in reverse, yet it doesn't.
It seems, more and more, that a reasonable expectation of privacy is a luxury which only applies to celebrities and criminals (politicians fit under the latter, of course).
How ironic then that Obama voted for teleco immunity after saying he wouldn't. I guess it's ok for the government to spy on the people, but not the people to spy on the government. Even more ironic, considering that one is suppliant to the other (namely, the government is suppliant to the people, not the other way around. The burden is on them to prove their service to the public good, not the other way around.)
Perhaps it's due to the gullibility of the average voter that there isn't enough public scrutiny to require high-ranking political officials to disclose a bunch of personal information (of which phone records would be one) before becoming an elected official.
Employees accessing political records isn't a laughing matter, but there's been plenty personal information snooping from both sides (*cough* palin *cough*) to go around this election.
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"Some people never see the light till it shines thru bullet holes." -Bruce Cockburn
I'm testing Gmail's spam filters: Broadbandreports1@gmail.com
Spam: 12900+ messages currently using 406 MB. | |
| | | | | Re: They should be Fired Ouote - "This new Department of Homeland Security has the power to wiretap any American it wants, without a court order, without cause and without justification to any higher authority. Homeland Security goon squads will have the power to enter any American home, without a search warrant, without probable cause, simply because someone somewhere says “hey, this guy might be a threat.” No checks and balances, no due process. Nothing."
»www.commondreams.org/views02/1121-03.htm
Quote - "Congress: probe "targeting" of American citizens by vigilantes hiding behind government-funded programs."
»www.nowpublic.com/world/american···citizens | |
| | | | | | Re: They should be Fired if they come into my house with no warrant they better make peace with their maker. I have an unalienable right to pursue peace and happiness and no GOVERNMNENT will take that away from me. That is a God (Goddess) give right of mine to exist. I will take doen as many of them before I am taken down. | |
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|  pnh102Reptiles Are Cuddly And PrettyPremium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD | said by supergirl:I'd have fired them day 2. Anyone that accessed the account, unless they chatted with Obama, would be out the door. Good way to get your company sued. Another good way to get your company sued is to wrongfully terminate someone, even in at-will employment situations. Verizon most likely had to do a thorough internal investigation to ensure that all of the culprits were found and terminated and that no one else was punished.
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Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty | |
| | | | Meanwhile when state employers checked the backgrounds of Joe the Plumber because he was thrust into the spotlight, what happened? Poor Joe for asking a valid question to Obama. | |
| | | pnh102Reptiles Are Cuddly And PrettyPremium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD | Re: They should be Fired said by cardingtr:Meanwhile when state employers checked the backgrounds of Joe the Plumber because he was thrust into the spotlight, what happened? Poor Joe for asking a valid question to Obama. They were suspended with pay.
I would presume that would be to allow an investigation to be done, but to the casual observer, it sounds more like paid time off instead.
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Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty | |
| | | | Nuts
join:2006-04-27
Forest, OH | Re: They should be Fired Editorial in local paper says that the political hack isn't being fired. | |
| | | | | pnh102Reptiles Are Cuddly And PrettyPremium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD | Re: They should be Fired said by Nuts:Editorial in local paper says that the political hack isn't being fired. I'm not surprised considering which party runs Ohio at the moment.
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Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty | |
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|  Grail KnightWho Dares WinsPremium
join:2003-05-31
Valhalla
kudos:5
 ·Time Warner Cable
| quote:
Fire all of them.
quote:
Anyone that accessed the account, unless they chatted with Obama, would be out the door.
Directly quoted from the News link which was posted by the OP. Did you see it?
quote:
Verizon Wireless has fired employees connected to a breach of records from a cell phone used by President-elect Barack Obama this year, a Verizon source said Friday.
quote:
Verizon Wireless, meanwhile, has launched a separate internal investigation to determine whether 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 e-mail obtained by CNN.
The company has alerted "the appropriate federal law enforcement authorities," McAdam said.
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| | How do we know The nosy employees likely didn't violate the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, given they didn't access stored communications, voicemails, emails or instant messages. How do we know they didn't. | |
| | | | Re: How do we know said by anony101 :The nosy employees likely didn't violate the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, given they didn't access stored communications, voicemails, emails or instant messages. How do we know they didn't. More then likely because they worked in the wireline side of the business,(plain old telephone service) and dont have access to voicemails, emails, or instant messages. | |
| | | wev567
join:2006-02-25
Pittsburgh, PA | Re: How do we know
They are wireless reps, most likely in the billing side. And they probably don't have access to text, VMs, etc, either. | |
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| RadioDoc58ef2c0Premium,ExMod 2000-03
join:2000-05-11 | How do I know for sure that Comcast does not sell my TV watching data, account information or credit card numbers to the Russian Mafia?
What a stupid comment.
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Toolmaster of La Grange. | |
| | | NerdtalkerWorking Hard, Or Hardly Working?Premium,MVM
join:2003-02-18
Tucson, AZ | Re: How do we know They already do, considering NebuAD. They don't even bother telling you about it. | |
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| | | Exactly.. Any one working within MTSO could have accessed it. | |
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Reviews:
 ·Verizon FiOS
| Obama chooses Verizon? Obama chooses Verizon as cell phone provider, go figure...
Now if he can get Verizon to start bringing down those skyrocketing rates... and compete with the likes of $29.95 Cablevision... that would really impress me. Certainly, we don't want to think that we the: can you hear me now? slogan is employees snooping on high profile customers?
On a mostly unrelated note:
Gas prices probably wouldn't see as steep a decline if McCain won... the downside, food prices have seen another 15% increase beause diesel prices are still around $3 a gallon
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| | pnh102Reptiles Are Cuddly And PrettyPremium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD | Re: Obama chooses Verizon? said by tmc8080:Now if he can get Verizon to start bringing down those skyrocketing rates... Are you serious?
said by tmc8080:Gas prices probably wouldn't see as steep a decline if McCain won... How do you figure?
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Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty | |
| | lesopp
join:2001-06-27
Land O Lakes, FL | Was his choice before or after he voted for amnesty? | |
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| | Nosy or business as usual... American Gestapo...
Quote - "This new Department of Homeland Security has the power to wiretap any American it wants, without a court order, without cause and without justification to any higher authority. Homeland Security goon squads will have the power to enter any American home, without a search warrant, without probable cause, simply because someone somewhere says “hey, this guy might be a threat.” No checks and balances, no due process. Nothing."
»www.commondreams.org/views02/1121-03.htm
American Gestapo...
Quote - "Congress: probe "targeting" of American citizens by vigilantes hiding behind government-funded programs."
»www.nowpublic.com/world/american···citizens
Quote | |
| | elray
join:2000-12-16
Santa Monica, CA Reviews:
 ·SONIC.NET
·RoadRunner Cable
| What business as usual? Um, just when in the past six years since that opinion piece was penned, have we seen the "American Gestapo"'s jack-booted thugs do any of the threatened activities?
The last time I saw our government forces behaving in this manner was under Janet Reno, when they gassed the kids in Waco, then did a raid to "rescue" Elian.
Oh sure, we've had a few librarians upset about the G-men's intimidating tactics, but I assure you, they behaved that way long before GWB was in power. | |
| | | | | | | | Re: What business as usual? Quote "elray" - "Um, just when in the past six years since that opinion piece was penned, have we seen the "American Gestapo"'s jack-booted thugs do any of the threatened activities?" - end quote.
I've seen and experienced more than enough to *prove* covert "unconstitutional crimes against humanity".
Quote "elray" - "The last time I saw our government forces behaving in this manner was under Janet Reno, when they gassed the kids in Waco, then did a raid to "rescue" Elian." - end quote.
You are correct, that was the "last you saw", because methods set in motion were designed to hide the truth from the general public.
Quote "elray" - "h sure, we've had a few librarians upset about the G-men's intimidating tactics, but I assure you, they behaved that way long before GWB was in power.
I could care less about politics, but I am speaking about constitutional rights that are being taken without the informed knowledge of the general public.
Rights that are ours and ours alone. | |
| | | | lesopp
join:2001-06-27
Land O Lakes, FL | Re: What business as usual? What about this "AnonName"?
Obama wants a Homeland Security Corps.
»shroudedindoubt.typepad.com/body···sal.html
It would appear that as a member of the general public you are lacking informed knowledge.
Also "Rights that are ours and ours alone" is not accurate. Our rights have been extended to foreign nationals being held in Gitmo Cuba. | |
| | | | | | | Re: What business as usual? I don't think Obama is aware of the crimes technically allowed by US code and currently being committed against innocent US citizens without "due process".
And I would like to see our now "stolen" rights as US citizens, extended to all peoples. | |
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 DownTheShoreJust Say No To NewtsPremium
join:2003-12-02
Beautiful NJ
kudos:10 | What Took Verizon So Long? Verizon appears to have had very poor security measures in place to begin with.
I worked in a job where I had access to social security information. Info about celebrities, politicians, VIP's, etc. is blocked from easy access as a matter of policy. If you queried any record too many times, you were called into management's office the next day to explain. If you queried a name that was similar to your own, or to a co-worker's, you were called into managment's office the next day. If you queried too many records that had certain similarities, like say your same year of birth as if you were looking up classmates and friends, you were called into management's office the next day.
The system wasn't perfect, and I'm sure upper management had greater access than I did, but we took privacy seriously. Anyone who somehow managed to use the system for personal use was fired and prosecuted.
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Patriotism is not waving a flag, it is living the ideals | |
| | | Gas prices and Rates "Gas prices probably wouldn't see as steep a decline if McCain won..."
How would gas prices go up if mccain won? And plus since everyone seems to complain about gas prices, i say its good they went down. Also you would care about gas prices if you took public transit.
"Now if he can get Verizon to start bringing down those skyrocketing rates..."
What high rates? Verizon has the cheapest cell data plans out there. 40 for tmobile, 40 for AT&T and 30 for UNLIMITED DATA on verizon. even if just tether your phone. its not that hard. Also with this "3G" verizon has had "3G" for 7 years. | |
| | Reviews:
·Verizon FiOS
| Re: Gas prices and Rates said by mcg123 :
"Gas prices probably wouldn't see as steep a decline if McCain won..."
How would gas prices go up if mccain won? And plus since everyone seems to complain about gas prices, i say its good they went down. Also you would care about gas prices if you took public transit.
"Now if he can get Verizon to start bringing down those skyrocketing rates..."
What high rates? Verizon has the cheapest cell data plans out there. 40 for tmobile, 40 for AT&T and 30 for UNLIMITED DATA on verizon. even if just tether your phone. its not that hard. Also with this "3G" verizon has had "3G" for 7 years.
Suffice to say that there was direct and indirect invervention by those in federal government (mostly republicans) to allow fuel prices to skyrocket and "sell" it as the normal course of events. As this isn't the forum for such a discussion I'll leave it there.
As for data plans.. I still think open wifi spots are a viable alternative to "gotta have" 3g/LTE everywhere.. companies that invest billions on their networks will nickel and dime you to death... many have "bit caps" and are not truly unlimited anymore. They finally upgraded enough aggregate capacity in networks for companies to start offering "unlimited" voice plans for cell phone calling.. at at steep premium, of course. When one becomes desensitized to widening gap between what it actually costs the companies to provide service and what your charged in your bottom line bill.. you can get brainwashed into thinking Verizon is a good deal.. because other companies are much worse... Let's also keep in mind, Verizon charges as much or more for cell voice than the other companies and offers fewer features on their unlimited plan than Sprint, Tmobile, or AT&T... so, $10 less for data, eh.. they've more than made it up elsewhere.
Make no mistake, Verizon's success is only due to the fact that their competition is stumbling harder and faster in a poor economy and making bad marketing, customer service, and network implementation decisions. Lower price alone doesn't win customers. AT&T had a largely captive customer base with the Iphone and quandered it on poor execution on it's network. Sprint is squeezing the life out of their iden push to talk business customers and they're fleeing by the thousands... all to Verizon's benefit. Should the other major cell providers get their sh*t together.. Verizon may have reason to worry.. in the meantime.. welcome to good, but overvalued data/wireless voice services. | |
| | | lesopp
join:2001-06-27
Land O Lakes, FL | Re: Gas prices and Rates "Suffice to say that there was direct and indirect invervention by those in federal government (mostly republicans) to allow fuel prices to skyrocket and "sell" it as the normal course of events. As this isn't the forum for such a discussion I'll leave it there."
This happened while the democrats controlled both houses of congress. Despite hearings by closed minded bureaucrats bent on grandstanding, what legislation did they try to push through to help us? | |
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makazePremium
join:2004-02-23
USA | I think every company has this issue.. I understand where they were coming from with firing them.
I was at an AT&T store over 10 years ago, and while I was buying my phone I watched as they joked about pulling up some celebrities accounts and seeing what kind of plan/phone they had.
I work in a field closely related to Verizon, and I don't dare open an account that I don't have a valid reason to open. I like my job | |
| | | I don't see the problem Back in 2000 I worked for ATT wireless and during training we were givin phone numbers and one of out exerises was to look up and tell the class who's number it was. We had Bruce Willis, Mike Tyson, Whitney Hustion etc. etc. etc.
we seen their monthly bill total, who they called and how long they talked to them, how many times their late with their bill or shut off, even if they had a prepaid account or not
And this was OUR TRAINInG PROGRAM | |
| | | | Re: I don't see the problem
Sparks, NV
Quote djhexer - " I don't see the problem
Back in 2000 I worked for ATT wireless and during training we were givin phone numbers and one of out exerises was to look up and tell the class who's number it was. We had Bruce Willis, Mike Tyson, Whitney Hustion etc. etc. etc.
we seen their monthly bill total, who they called and how long they talked to them, how many times their late with their bill or shut off, even if they had a prepaid account or not
And this was OUR TRAINInG PROGRAM."
I bet that Bruce Willis, Mike Tyson, Whitney Huston etc,etc,etc, would want to know the incursions into their privacy. | |
| | | | | Re: I don't see the problem Is it possible those could have been names used in a test program? Where I work, the training program uses "invented" names for clients, so new employees have a database to work with. Usually they are silly names like "Slick Willie", but I remember seeing "Charlie Brown", etc. | |
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| | So? After the fact... Obama is already president. Unfortunately we just have to live with this fact. | |
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