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Verizon snoops Obama

Posted in politics by humblecitizen on November 21, 2008

Verizon has once again demonstrated that they cannot be entrusted with their customer’s private data. It was revealed today that multiple Verizon employees have accessed President-elect Obama’s cell phone records without authorization. The employees have apparently been put on paid leave until further notice.

According to telecom analyst Michael King of Gartner, the snoops could likely see the numbers Obama had called, how long his conversations lasted and when he made his calls.

Those who argue that such data is trivial might consider the apparent ease of obtaining a position with access to a President-elect’s personal information, and how that access could potentially be exploited. So while the intentions and associations of these employees is for the moment obscure, one thing is clear: Verizon’s existing safeguards on customer data are inadequate.

The incident is reminiscent of a time earlier this year when State Department employees were caught snooping in Obama’s passport records as well as those of fellow presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and John McCain.

Data management systems at companies like Verizon should be engineered in such a way as to make unauthorized access of customer data impossible. Customers should have the option of locking their accounts with a password and telecom employees should not have access to those accounts until they are remotely unlocked by the customer.

Obama is no doubt only one of many citizen’s having their privacy violated by cellular companies like Verizon. In fact a 2006 lawsuit filed against Verizon alleges the existence of a third party data center being operated out of Quantico Virginia — home to a Marines base as well as the center of FBI surveillance operations– where eavesdroppers could access “all content and all information concerning the origin and termination of telephone calls placed on the Verizon Wireless network as well as the actual content of calls.” For more on this bit head over to Wired or the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

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