The Channel Wire

November 21, 2008

After November 4, Hyde Park, Chicago took on a little bit of a different look. A barricade was set up around a certain block of a street and men in black suits, sunglasses and earpieces all showed up in the neighborhood to protect President-Elect Barack Obama.

Turns out they should've been protecting the President-Elect from his mobile phone company, Verizon Wireless. In a statement made today, Lowell McAdam, CEO of Verizon Wireless, acknowledged that a number of company employees accessed Obama's personal cell phone account.

"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 said in a statement. "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."

Maybe it's time for President-Elect Obama to "Change" his wireless carrier.

So, wait, there are men and women surrounding the President-Elect 24-hours a day, protecting him from any threat that may appear -- except for from his wireless carrier?

Let's be clear, though, this isn't a shortcoming of the Secret Service, instead it's about a few idiot employees who must've thought it would be cool to see who the President-Elect called on a Thursday evening four months ago to catch the score of a White Sox game.

Those employees, according to Lowell, have been suspended -- with pay -- until it can be sussed out who viewed his account information illegally.

"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 employee's access to the account are determined, the company will take appropriate actions," said Lowell. "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."

It's got to make you wonder just who has access to your cell phone records and how easily can they be viewed? In the case of President-Elect Obama, what if the cell phone was still active and Sen. Hilary Clinton's phone number was in there? Or a foreign leader?

For that matter, who's looking at my phone records and why do they care that I called my friend Andrew at 8:37pm for seven minutes last Tuesday? Hospital records have been subject to increasing privacy laws for years now -- HIPPA, anyone? -- and are only accessible with authorization.

But some dope with a computer terminal can open up a Verizon Wireless account and peruse it at their leisure? With this black eye, wireless carries may want to start reconsidering just how private they keep their customers information.

That's change we all can believe in.