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Verizon Workers Axed For Obama Record-Snooping

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Nov 21, 2008 8:35 pm US/Eastern

Verizon Workers Axed For Obama Record-Snooping

WASHINGTON (AP) ―

Click to enlarge 1 of 1: President-elect Barack Obama holds his BlackBerry device in this July 7, 2008, photo.
Alex Brandon/AP/Getty Images

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Verizon Wireless on Friday fired an unspecified number of employees it said had accessed President-elect Barack Obama's old cell phone records without permission.

The firings ended an internal investigation into the matter. Verizon Wireless earlier had disclosed the privacy breach and apologized to Obama. Obama aides had said no voice mails or e-mails were accessed.

Verizon Wireless chief executive Lowell McAdam had said Obama's account has been inactive for several months. Obama had been using a simple voice flip-phone without e-mail capabilities.

In a statement, McAdam apologized to Obama and disclosed the breach, saying: "a number of Verizon Wireless employees have, without authorization, accessed and viewed President-elect Barack Obama's personal cell phone account."

"All employees who have accessed the account -- whether authorized or not -- have been put on immediate leave, with pay," McAdam said in Thursday's statement. "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."