Verizon staff had unauthorized access to Obama's cell
Verizon Wireless said on Thursday that some employees had gained unauthorized access and viewed a personal cell phone account held by President-elect Barack Obama that is now inactive.
An Obama aide said his voice-mail messages and e-mails were not breached in the incident. "We were notified yesterday that employees had accessed the records of an old cell phone no longer in use," the Obama aide said. "No voice or e-mails were listened to or read."
The company said the device in question was a simple voice phone, not a Blackberry or other device designed for e-mail or other data services. In a statement, Verizon Wireless President and Chief Executive Lowell McAdam apologized to Obama and said all employees who had had access to Obama's account, whether authorized or not, were put on immediate leave with pay.
