Reactions to story from http://cnn.com

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  Verizon Workers Breach Obama's Phone Records, Rewarded for Doing So

  http://blog.indecision2008.com/2008/11/21/verizon-workers-br...
  46 days ago in Indecision2008 | Comedy Central · Authority: 820

  People are saying that Barack Obama is going to change Washington, and I guess it must be true because unlike previous Presidents who've used their political power to crush their enemies, Barack Obama seems to be rewarding all those who have mistreated him. The latest example? Well, apparently several Verizon Wireless employees breached the security of Obama's cell phone records. Wow. That's, like, not a good idea. I mean, I'd like to think that my privacy's protected, and the only number I call is 1-800-Dick-Joke to help me write this blog. But the leader of the free world? That's clearly like some sort of Federal crime right? Maybe, but this is Obama's time. So, while I probably would have those workers audited and imprisoned, it appears that no one's raising an issue with Verizon's decision to put these workers on "immediate leave, with pay." That's right. Invade Barack's privacy and jeopardize our national security you get a paid vacation. Perhaps, that's not so surprising. After all, if you call him unprepared to lead and start the Bill Ayers talk rolling, you might just become Secretary of State. Call him a Marxist and he'll sit down with you to discuss working together. Provide aide and comfort to his political rival and you get to chair a coveted Senate committee. So for all you struggling financially in these uncertain times, I urge you to somehow mess with Obama... * Can't make your car payments? Why not make loud farting noises under your armpit during Obama's inauguration? * Been given 90 days to look for a new job? Better make sure at least 89 of those are spent Rick Rolling Obama. * No money for food? Have you considered molesting the White House dog? Can we mess with Obama for economic security? Yes we can. More »
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  Obamas Cell Phone Info Breached

  http://www.liquidmatrix.org/blog/2008/11/21/obamas-cell-phon...
  46 days ago in Liquidmatrix Security Digest · Authority: 48

  Verizon steps in it. From CNN: 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, Lowell McAdam, Verizon Wireless president and
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  Verizon Wireless employees snooped on Obama's cell phone records

  http://gadgetforlife.info/2008/11/26/verizon-wireless-employ...
  41 days ago in gadgetforlife.info · Authority: 4

  Verizon Wireless employees snooped on Obama's cell phone records Posted by: in General News Look, this is why no president should ever use e-mail or a BlackBerry or any other kind of consumer-level electronic communication: 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. An Obama spokesman stated the transition team was told Verizon Wireless workers looked through billing records. … [Lowell McAdam, Verizon Wireless president and CEO,] stated 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, so none of Obama’s e-mail could have been accessed. Verizon Wireless, meanwhile, has launched an internal probe to determine whether Obama’s information was simply shared 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. It goes without saying (but I’ll state it anyway) that this breach, as well as the hack on Sarah Palin’s e-mail, should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. But if the President-elect insists on keeping his personal e-mail and phone when he takes office, expect more of these types of stories. Share This Popularity: 1% [?] Share This
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  Verizon Wireless: No Excuse For Data Security Issue

  http://phoneboy.com/2674/verizon-wireless-no-excuse-for-data...
  42 days ago in The PhoneBoy Blog · Authority: 55

  Image via Wikipedia I’ve been thinking about the compromise of President-Elect Barack Obama’s mobile phone records at Verizon Wireless. Verizon Wireless recently fired the guilty parties, as they should. However, this is not the end of the problem. In fact, it’s only the beginning. As I work in a customer service organization, I understand the business need for customer service agents to have access to customer records. In order to provide quality service to a customer, access to their relevant data is vital. How much access to that data is needed? Does every rep need access to all that data 24×7, anytime? The CISSP in me says absolutely not. Do companies properly control access to this data? Not in my opinion. There are always going to be people who need access to all customer data, e.g. management or management designates. However, the number of people who have that level of access should be relatively small. All access to that data should be heavily audited. For the lowly customer service rep–the people who typically answer the phone when a customer calls in–they should have access to the customer’s records unless the customer provides a PIN of some sort. Without a valid phone number and the appropriate PIN, the customer service reps should not be able to pull up the records at all. Of course, there are going to be exceptions to this rule, for example if a specific rep is working with a specific customer on a specific issue, but as a rule, only people with a valid business reason to have access to the customer data right now should have that access. This needs to be enforced by business process as well as the tools themselves. Really, though, it’s a simple matter. If you don’t have a legitimate business reason for looking at customer data, don’t do it. This has always been my policy back from when I was a systems administrator. Reputable customer service agents follow this rule, the good ones don’t even have to be told. Back to Verizon Wireless for a moment. While I know it is a matter of a few rogue employees and I feel they responded to the situation appropriately, it shouldn’t have happened in the first place. A large telecom like Verizon Wireless should have systems in place to prevent this kind of “data leakage” already. Clearly, whatever measures they employ either weren’t followed or were ineffective. I hope that all telecommunications carriers learn from this experience. [IMG Reblog this post [with Zemanta]] Advertisement: Emergency Cell Phones Comments25 November 2008, spg writes: i have dealt with some pretty bad customer services situation where there was total contradiction between one rep and another or they even flat out told me a different policy the second time. since these were billing issues that had a very direct impact on my finances(even is only to a small degree) i take them very seriously. in these cases i really wish there would have been some way to play back the conversation when the story changed and the CS rep denied what they told me the first time. this of course being handled on verizon's end not me(the customer) having to be the one to record the call when it is already being recorded. spg30 November 2008, PhoneBoy writes: I wonder if we can record the calls with Customer Service ourselves for exactly this kind of problem?Related PostsVerizon Wireless Opening Their Network, Going LTE for 4GTuesday RoundupIt’s Official: Qwest Now Pushing Verizon WirelessAT&T and Vodafone Getting Hitched?Verizon Wireless Must Not Think Highly of Gig Harbor, WA This work originally came from The PhoneBoy Blog and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Fingerprint: e37ac627f3d973694c212ff9430d215a
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  Verizon Wireless Employees Snooped on Obama’s Cell Phone Records

  http://www.buzztopica.com/verizon-wireless-employees-snooped...
  42 days ago in Buzz Topica Marketplace · Authority: 1

  Verizon Wireless employees snooped on Obama's cell phone records Look, this is why no president should ever use e-mail or a BlackBerry or any other kind of consumer-level electronic communication: 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. An Obama spokesman said the transition team was told Verizon Wireless workers looked through billing records. ... [Lowell McAdam, Verizon Wireless president and CEO,] 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, so none of Obama's e-mail could have been accessed. Verizon Wireless, meanwhile, has launched an internal probe to determine whether Obama's information was simply shared 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. It goes without saying (but I'll say it anyway) that this breach, as well as the hack on Sarah Palin's e-mail, should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. But if the President-elect insists on keeping his personal e-mail and phone when he takes office, expect more of these types of stories.
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  Obama Related Odds & Ends

  http://www.politopics.com/2008/11/obama-related-odds-ends.ht...
  43 days ago in POLITOPICS · Authority: 27

  Obama Related Odds & Ends 11.23.2008 He said what? SC priest: No communion for Obama supporters - Yahoo! News "South Carolina Roman Catholic priest has told his parishioners that they should refrain from receiving Holy Communion if they voted for Barack Obama because the Democratic president-elect supports abortion, and supporting him 'constitutes material cooperation with intrinsic evil.' The Rev. Jay Scott Newman said in a letter distributed Sunday to parishioners at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Greenville that they are putting their souls at risk if they take Holy Communion before doing penance for their vote." -------------------------------------- A very interesting look at the secret service around Obama all the time. They clearly have their job cut out for them over the next 4 to 8 years. You have the threats to his life, but also all those crazy folks who are always trying to grab at him and touch him like they think it will cure their leprosy. Obama's Life With The Secret Service (SLIDESHOW) -------------------------------------- This fool is just beyond words. Seriously. Mayor sorry for kids' 'Assassinate Obama' chant Idaho Idaho Statesman "The mayor of an eastern Idaho town where second- and third-grade students on a school bus chanted 'Assassinate Obama' after the Nov. 4 election has publicly apologized, saying there's no excuse for such behavior. Rexburg Mayor Shawn Larsen wrote in a guest editorial sent Tuesday to local newspapers that he was saddened by the notoriety his community had received over the incident, both across the United States and abroad." ------------------------------------- From immediate leave, with pay to immediate permanent leave without pay. Seriously, people. Just no. Obama's cell phone records breached - CNN.com "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. An Obama spokesman said the transition team was told Verizon Wireless workers looked through billing records. '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.'" |
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  Episode 29 - The Sex Contract

  http://www.rainycityradio.com/2008/11/episode-29-the-sex-con...
  43 days ago in Rainy City Radio - Totally unrehearsed and hilarious from the Pacific Northwest. · Authority: 1

  Hosts: DJ Jay Dub / Fonzo / Mo Cheez / B. Gizzle Topics: The New Xbox Experience (NXE). 50 Cent Sues Taco Bell. How Many Couples have Tried “the Booty Fun”? Employee’s Access Obama’s Cell Phone Records. Sex Contract Void; Convicted of Rape. Teen Photos & Flickr; Weird? Somali Pirates Hijack Oil Tanker. Runtime: 1:14:08
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  Top-Earning Couple: Jay Z and Beyonce Contributions for MLK Memorial Pass $100M Mark Obama Cons…

  http://theashcashshow.ning.com/xn/detail/2188996:BlogPost:34...
  44 days ago in THE ASH CASH SHOW · Authority: 1

  Top-Earning Couple: Jay Z and Beyonce Contributions for MLK Memorial Pass $100M Mark Obama Considering African American Woman to Fill FCC's Top Post Slaves Helped Build the White House Obama Pool Table for Sale on eBay: $500,000 Black Caucus Says No Special Relationship to Obama Obama's Cell Phone Records Breached Financial Meltdown Leaves Ghost Resorts in Caribbean Study: African American Students Consume More, Save Less Common Shares Keys to Success with Pupils Ex-Child Soldiers from Africa Launch UN Network to Help Kids Magic Johnson's New Book on Entrepreneurial Success Inmates Take on Ivy Leaguers in Chess
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  Obama's Mobile Phone Records Compromised, Shared

  http://www.bizimunda.net/2008/11/obamas-mobile-phone-records...
  45 days ago in Bizimunda · No authority yet

  Verizon has confirmed that some of its employees have accessed and perhaps shared calling records of President Elect Barack Obama (coverage at CNN, Reuters, AP). Verizon says the people involved have all been put on leave with pay as the investigation proceeds. Some of the employees may have accessed the information for legitimate purposes, but others may have been curiosity seekers and may have even shared the information around. The account was 'only' a phone, not a BlackBerry or similar device, and Verizon believes it was just calling records, not voicemail or email that was compromised. The articles do not mention the similarity to the warrantless wiretapping or hospital records compromises of recent months. But that immediately sprang to mind for me.

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