Verizon staffers who accessed Obama mobile phone data on way out

Verizon Wireless employees who have been suspected of doing a peek into President-elect Barack Obama’s mobile phone records are being dealt with in strong measure.

The cmpany has said that action has been taken against the suspects and an internal investigation is looking to find if the client’s records have been compromised in any way outside of the company. After finding out that employees have, without authorization, accessed and viewed Obama’s personal cell phone account, Verizon Wireless swung into action in a bid of firefighting.

While employees who had a legitimate reason for accessing the information will not receive any punishment, those who accessed the account improperly, are being handed out the marching orders, said the company.

With the unauthorized access news spreading fast, the company has explained that the situation demands an internal investigation, and no further comments will be made about the process, terming the occurance as some employees’ idle curiosity. Obama’s phone is said to have been a voice-only handset and so it is clear that no email or text messages were in danger. The accessed details include some phone numbers, call length and timestamps, sources said.

The episode, though not very significant, has cast a shadow on security and privacy factors which most customers believe are very important. Further, the incident has also brought to the forefront issues relating to mobile companies’ attitude in which important data is handled. As all information recorded by mobile carriers, banks and other utility services are to be deemed confidential and accessed only for legitimate reasons, the Obama phone access incident could damage the reputation of the telecom major.

Meanwhile, America is seeing opinion being focused on the need for a proper legislation which would pt a check on aspects such as these in connection with telecom services.