Slashdot Mirror
Verizon Employees Fired For Snooping Obama's Record
longhairedgnome writes "The curiosity in President-elect Barack Obama's phone records came with a high price tag for Verizon Wireless employees. According to CNN, the workers who snooped on Obama's phone records have been fired.
'This was some employees' idle curiosity,' a company source told CNN and added 'we now consider this matter closed.'
Justice served? What about legal possibilities?" Can we expect anyone who followed a warrantless wiretap from the Bush administration to also be fired then? I mean, they violated our privacy as well.
More likely it means that the Verizon rep was trying to be exceedingly clear about what was and wasn't accessed, and in the process mucked up the waters somewhat.
As for your other questions, I do not believe that they store records of what was said unless they are ordered to by the government. The hardware and software necissary to do so would be expensive and would provide no business advantage to them, unless you think they go around blackmailing people or something. I'm not saying they haven't been so ordered, only that it would be a net loss for them to do it otherwise.
My understanding is that the phone companies (or the government, on their behalf) now store all phone calls for a short period of time. Then, if there is reason to tap the phone call they can go back to the recording. It allows them to tap phone calls after they happen, so long as they decide to do so within the window of opportunity before the recording is recycled.
This is a non-event. Any quality employer will have pretty specific policies about accessing business data on a need-to-know only basis.
I hate to say it, but every president does it.
Bark less. Wag more.
As a former rep for Sprint, I can say that Sprint reps don't have access to voice recording of anyone's calls. And the only people who could possibly have access is a special department that deals with police issues.
What we did have access to, and what these people probably access, was just a regular calling list (numbers who called the phone, and numbers called from the phone).
And from what I was told while working there, the company didn't record any calls unless specifically ordered to by authorities.
- John
And those would be... what? Regardless, it's up to the local district attorney to seek criminal charges.
Given that he's about to become the POTUS, I think he's got more important things to worry about. Plus, it would seem rather petty by presidential standards.
If you reply, do so only to what I explicitly wrote. If I didn't write it, don't assume or infer it.
I used to work doing telephone customer service for First USA Bank. In our training class, they actually encouraged us to look up the accounts of random celebrities. My whole class would come up with names and type them in to see if they had an account with us. We'd also frequently show each other particularly bad credit reports that came up on applications.
That's interesting. I believe that's the same bank that opened a credit card account for me without my knowledge, and sent me a collections notice for the annual fee plus late fees 6 months later, totaling hundreds of dollars. I'd never received an offer from them, let alone a card, nor would I accepted the thing had they done so. Oddly enough, making it go away only took about an hour on the phone, which leads me to believe it wasn't the first time they'd done this. Worse, the same thing happened the next year, making the "accident" angle a little tough to believe. I'm guessing those clowns lean on employees to basically make up accounts and forge signatures. Really cute. I regret not contacting the attorney general, because that stuff is outrageously illegal.
So basically, what you were seeing looks to have been the least illegal thing happening there. ;)
Your understanding is not correct. The infrastructure necessary to do so would be very, very expensive. Implementing something along these lines would also require an awful lot of people to be "in on it", thousands or more. These two considerations count for more than my third point, which is that it isn't legal.
Some companies might have a policy like this. For example, many call centers record all calls (and notify you that they do). But the entire US telephone infrastructure? Please put your tin foil hat on the table and back away slowly.
Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.
"Same thing".
... i.e. all cluster B personality disorders.
Not exactly the same, but are high probability (not all, but many) of being a form of cluster B personality disorder.
celebrities, politicans and criminals
celebrities - Predominately HPD
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Histrionic_personality_disorder Histrionic personality disorder (HPD) is a personality disorder characterized by a pattern of excessive emotionality and attention-seeking, including an excessive need for approval and inappropriate seductiveness, usually beginning in early adulthood.
politicans - Predominately NPD
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_personality_disorder (NPD) is a personality disorder defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the diagnostic classification system used in the United States, as "a pervasive pattern of grandiosity, need for admiration, and a lack of empathy."
criminals - NPD and ASPD (which is effectively extreme NPD).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspd The essential feature for the diagnosis is a pervasive pattern of disregard for, and violation of, the rights of others that begins in childhood or early adolescence and continues into adulthood.
Whats also interesting is you can have combinations of these, so a HPD who is also NPD etc. (For example, an ASPD who is also a HPD is very bad news, as they seek to demonstrate (i.e. seek attention) to show they have power over others around them).
There are 10 kinds of people in the world... those who understand binary and those who don't.
Your logic is not correct. The infrastructure for implementing this feature, though expensive, is funded by the government because it is mandated by the government. I cannot speak for landline calls but as far as cell phone calls go, I know first-hand that vzw as well as every other carrier authorized to carry a signal in the USA stores its calls and vzw _is_ the central repository for these calls for North America. France Telecom is the central repository for EU(I CBF to cite this. If you care enough about it look it up yourself.). I know anyone can claim first-hand knowledge but your belief is irrelevant to whether or not it is true. And your third point only half true. "In 1994 Congress passed the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act, also known as the Digital Telephony Act (18 USC 2510-2522). The Act's purpose is to provide law enforcement officials with assurance that they will be able to "tap" or have access to the content of any communications incorporating new digital technology. These digital transmissions include both voice communications transmitted in digital format as well as transmissions of text and data between computers using a modem." What you are referring to is the fact that law enforcement cannot sift through any conversations at-will, however they can and do have access to the calls, even if they get the warrant after the call occurred. Please pull your patronizing foot out of your mouth. Put it on the floor. And slowly jump off something very tall.
Back to the Clintons.
Who did he save?
Roger Clinton, Jr. - brother of Bill Clinton. After serving a year in federal prison for cocaine possession.
Dan Rostenkowski - United States Representative Democratic Party.
Susan McDougal - partners with Bill Clinton and Hillary Rodham Clinton in the failed Whitewater deal.
Henry Cisneros - Clinton's Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. Pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count for lying to the FBI, and was fined $10,000.
Mel Reynolds - Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives.
Bill was corrupt.
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power lost.