Slashdot Mirror
Verizon Tells Cops "Your Money Or Your Life"
Mike writes "A 62-year-old man had a mental breakdown and ran off after grabbing several bottles of pills from his house. The cops asked Verizon to help trace the man using his cellphone, but Verizon refused, saying that they couldn't turn on his phone because he had an unpaid bill for $20. After an 11-hour search (during which time the sheriff's department was trying to figure out how to pay the bill), the man was found, unconscious. 'I was more concerned for the person's life,' Sheriff Dale Williams said. 'It would have been nice if Verizon would have turned on his phone for five or 10 minutes, just long enough to try and find the guy. But they would only turn it on if we agreed to pay $20 of the unpaid bill.' Score another win for the Verizon Customer Service team."
The article didn't say they refused out of privacy concerns, it said they refused because of an unpaid bill. I would agree with you on the privacy issue though, they shouldn't be allowed to randomly turn on your phone and track you just because the police say so, unless, they have the permission of a concerned relative/spouse. If there's a means to find a lost and sorely missed loved one, it should be used.
Ah, if the telcos would only develop that sort of spine when Bush came calling wanting wiretap access...
Hell even if it's on said flow chart they can't help you.
To be even remotely helpful they'd have to speak some sort of english...
Why is common sense called that if it's not common?