Verizon has a little scandal on their hands. Verizon Wireless President and CEO Lowell McAdam released a statement today that a number of Verizon Wireless employees have, without authorization, accessed and viewed President-Elect Barack Obama’s personal cell phone account. The account has been inactive for several months. The device on the account was a simple voice flip-phone, not the BlackBerry he is seen using most of the time. Verizon had all employees who accessed the account, whether authorized or not, put on immediate leave, with pay. Via this Verizon statement.
Compared to the Deutsche Telekom wiretapping scandal in Germany this is nothing. More and more details surface about Deutsche Telekom wiretapping board members, their family members, and journalists. The latest news is that not only mobile phones got wiretapped, but also landlines according to Heise. Looking at a database record of an unused phone is just child’s play by comparison.

Since Obama will have to give up his BlackBerry anyway when he becomes President he will not need to worry about prying employees at carriers.