Barack Obama

Verizon fires employees who hacked Obama's account

Phil Goldstein — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 10:38:56 -0500

Verizon Wireless has fired the employees who accessed President-elect Barack Obama's personal cell phone account without authorization.

A report on CNN.com quoted an unnamed Verizon source, who would not disclose how many people were fired but said, "we now consider this matter closed." Apparently the employees were involved in customer service and were not authorized to look at an account unless a customer requested it.

The source also said that records of no other well-known customers had been breached. The phone that was accessed was a flip phone that had been inactive for months, and was not a Blackberry or other smartphone from which email could have been sent or data services could have been accessed.

The news came as some security experts question whether Obama will need to stop using his BlackBerry as he assumes the presidency, mostly because of concerns over security breaches such as this.

For more:
- see this article

Related Articles:
Verizon employees hacked Obama's cell phone account
Obama to "put his own stamp" on FCC

Verizon employees hacked Obama's cell phone account

Phil Goldstein — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 10:54:11 -0500

Verizon Wireless has said that some employees had accessed and viewed President-elect Barack Obama's personal cell phone account without authorization.

The carrier said all employees who accessed the account, either with or without authorization, which had been inactive for months, had been put on immediate leave with pay. "We apologize to President-elect Obama and will work to keep the trust our customers place in us every day," Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam said in a statement. The phone was a simple flip-phone and not a smartphone or a BlackBerry used for email or data services.

Verizon said it was looking into the kinds of access that employees had, and that those who accessed the account for legitimate business purposes will be placed back in their positions and those who accessed the account improperly will face disciplinary action. Verizon spokesman Jeffrey Nelson would not comment beyond the official statement.

The news comes as some security experts question whether Obama will need to stop using his BlackBerry as he assumes the presidency, mostly because of concerns over security breaches such as this.

For more:
- see this article
- see this Verizon press release
- see this article on Obama and his BlackBerry

Related Articles:
Obama to "put his own stamp" on FCC
Mobile messaging surges following Obama win

Thomas Wheeler named to Obama transition team

Phil Goldstein — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 11:16:41 -0500

Thomas Wheeler, the former head of CTIA and still a player in the wireless industry, was named to the Obama-Biden transition team to head up efforts in the science, technology, space and arts agencies, which probably includes the FCC.

Wheeler, who was a large fundraiser for President-elect Barack Obama during the Democratic primaries, was the head of CTIA for 12 years and knows the ins-and-outs of dealing with federal regulators. He currently is the managing director of Core Capital, a wireless investment firm. Also joining the transition team is Reed Hundt, who oversaw the first spectrum auctions during the Clinton administration. Hundt will be working on the transition team's focus on international trade and economic agencies.

Last week, one of the co-chairs of the transition team, John Podesta, made it clear that Obama planned on making his own mark on the FCC.

For more:
- see this article in RCR News
- see Wheeler in FierceWireless' list of Top U.S. Wireless Innovators of All Time

Related Articles:
Obama to "put his own stamp" on FCC
Obama campaign releases iPhone application

Obama to "put his own stamp" on FCC

Phil Goldstein — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 10:48:36 -0500

President-elect Barack Obama will move to make changes at the FCC as he prepares to take power, the co-chairman of his transition team said yesterday.

John Podesta, a former Clinton administration official, said Obama's transition team would look at the FCC as part of its review of more than 100 federal agencies, departments and commissions. This review is necessary to "make strategic policy, budgetary and personnel decisions prior to the inauguration."

Regarding the FCC specifically, Podesta said, "I have no doubt that the President-elect will put his own stamp on the FCC."

He did not comment on the fate of current FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, and said "obviously the FCC continues to operate." One of the major issues that may be unresolved by Inauguration Day is the fate of the 700 MHz D-Block spectrum, which has been set aside to build an interoperable wireless network for first responders.

For more:
- see this article

Related Articles:
Obama campaign releases iPhone application
FCC approves white spaces, creates interference restrictions

Obama campaign releases iPhone application

Phil Goldstein — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 16:30:41 -0400

Presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama has made history with use of the Internet and web 2.0 technology for fundraising, social networking and even text-messaged the announcement of his running mate, Delaware Senator Joe Biden. But now Obama, Democrat of Illinois, has made another leap.

He has his own iPhone application.

The Obama campaign released the application for the iPhone 3G on Thursday, with 33 days left before the Nov. 4 election. The free app will allow users to stay on top of campaign news, get mapping directions to local campaign events, call fellow supporters and look at media relating to the campaign. The application is also compatible for the iPod Touch.

As of this writing, an iPhone application had not been introduced by the camapign of Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain. Ron Paul appears to have had an iPhone app during his campaign, but we are unable to locate it anymore.

For more:
- see this article
- see this screenshot of the app

Related Articles:
Rock The Vote, AT&T and FunMobility Team To Mobilize the Youth Vote
Obama leads in traffic, but McCain tops in video

Obama text message promise proves unworkable

Sue Marek — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 11:19:02 -0400

Sen. Barack Obama's promise to supporters that they would be the first to know of his vice presidential running mate via text messaging turned out to be a bit of an ambitious promise. The Democratic presidential candidate got scooped by the media on his own announcement.

Late Friday the national networks started naming Sen. Joseph Biden as Obama's pick but the Obama campaign didn't dispatch the text message to Obama supporters until 3 a.m. EST Saturday. Some received the message right away, but some messages were delayed for a few hours. Neither Obama's camp nor Distributive Networks, the Washington, D.C.-based firm that facilitated the text campaign, will reveal how many text messages were sent to supporters notifying them of the Democratic candidate's VP choice.

Obama's plan to use text messaging to announce his choice was a first in politics. He had promised supporters that by providing cell phone numbers and e-mail addresses they would be the first to hear the news of his choice for vice president.

For more:
See this Associated Press story

Related stories:
Obama dominates mobile web searches
Obama introduces text-messaging initiative