Verizon Employees Accesses Obama's Cellphone Records

According to a Verizon Wireless press release, an employee of theirs accessed President-elect Obama's personal phone account. Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam made the following statement last week:

This week we learned that a number of Verizon Wireless employees have, without authorization, accessed and viewed President-Elect Barack Obamas 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 employees 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.

The employee may be subject to section 1030 of the US criminal code which states that anyone is prohibited from intentionally accessing a computer without authorization or exceeding their authorized access. Such violators could face up to 10 years in prison.