Washington, November 21: Verizon Wireless is amidst a big controversy as it has been found, that many of its employees have “accessed and viewed” the personal cell phone account details of President-elect Barack Obama.
As per information received from Verizon, all the employees who viewed the account details have been sent on leave with pay with immediate effect. Suspended employees included both authorised as well as unauthorised employees to access the account.
The company has assured of requisite disciplinary action against each employee. At present, the firm is evaluating the role of every employee possibly having access to personal accounts.
Chief Executive Lowell Mc Adam said, “We apologize to President-elect Obama and will work to keep the trust our customers place in us every day.” Verizon spokesman Jeffrey Nelson refused to comment anything beyond the official statement of the company.
Whether Obama should use web-based devices in the wake of security concerns is already a question of debate. However, Verizon added that the concerned account has not been active for the past many months.
They further added that Obama had a flip-phone and not a Blackberry or any other smart phone, which is used for e-mail and other such services. The company did not divulge details about the type of data that was accessed on Obama’s account. This data viewed may have included billing and calling records.
Verizon is projected to become the country’s biggest wireless carrier after it merges with Alltel. Now the company must be praying that this controversy does not end up casting clouds on its bright future.
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