$88M lawsuit charges AT&T employee with leaking private information
October 29 2008 - 1:34 pm ET | Jeffrey Silva | RCR Wireless News
AT&T Mobility subscribers are seeking $88 million in damages in a privacy lawsuit against the No. 1 wireless provider.
The lawsuit, filed by 44 wireless subscribers in Oklahoma federal court, alleges that between 2001 and 2005 a private investigative agency obtained phone records without subscribers’ consent by paying a management-level employee of AT&T Mobility for them.
“The acts and omissions of the defendants in failing to fulfill their duty under the [Communications] Act to protect the plaintiffs’ confidential and proprietary network information were done in reckless disregard of the plaintiffs under the Act thereby entitling the plaintiffs to recover punitive damages,” the six-page complaint stated. The plaintiffs are seeking $1 million each in actual damages, $1 million each for punitive damages and legal costs.
AT&T Mobility denies any wrongdoing.
“We have conducted a thorough investigation and have found no evidence to support the allegations in the complaint,” said Marty Richter, a spokesman for the wireless carrier. “We take our customers’ privacy very seriously, and have strict policies and procedures on how employees are to handle these sorts of records. Sale of customer records would be in direct violation of company policies.”
October 30, 2008 05:59 am
I heard obama uses At&t. How did i know? Through the grapevines. can I get obama to sue at&t too?
October 29, 2008 01:37 pm
Hey Joe that is a good question, why is it that AT&T as well as Verizon both participated in the illegal wiretapping......as for the AT&T employee and the private investigative agency, i say charge them both for the crime and make them do jail time and pay off any and all costs associated with their crime('s).
October 29, 2008 01:37 pm
Sounds to me like this "private investigative service" was trying to gain priviledged information so they could be ambulance cashers in trying to cash in on phising scheme to sue a company that may have deep pockets. Shame on them!
October 29, 2008 01:37 pm
It's true that the carrier isn't the issue. However the liability for insuring security and confidentiality of corporate information (including that personal customer information gained through the business relationship) is the responsibility of the carrier, just as it is a hospital's responsibility to protect your personal health information. An employee can violate the law and access or release this information, and should be subsequently disciplined and prosecuted, as appropriate. This does not relieve the corporation from liability or relief from prosecution or punative damage recovery. If corporations were not held accountable, they would have no cause to hold their employees accountable or insure that their processes and systems meet a standard for accountability. Don't bash AT&T or any other employer because of the bad employee. But understand that if proven guilty, the corporation shares in the guilt. Thus is the purpose of the language to this end in the Act.
October 29, 2008 01:37 pm
By cooperating with the administration in illegal warrantless wiretapping, AT&T created a cultural environment in which illegality was accepted practice and the privacy of the subscribers was second to everything.
October 29, 2008 01:37 pm
I'd like to point out the fact that it was a "private investigative agency" that obtained the alleged account details in question. That alone seems a lttle bit "shady" as a previous poster has stated.
October 29, 2008 01:37 pm
Go figure. I’ve been in the wireless industry since the late 80s and have watched it change from a profitable and respected industry to a place where people with no morals or education take advantage of customers. I rely on my business reputation and can never understand how greed would allow people in a position of trust would take advantage of their customers. All it takes is a few bad individuals to drag a company down.
October 29, 2008 01:37 pm
This is an allegation. There is no proof yet. This may have happened. This also may just be some unethical "victims" and their "compassionate" lawyers looking for a way to get rich without having to earn the money. As far as those that say this is justifiable, that is ridiculous. That's an excuse that children make. Grow up and act like a responsible adult. We are responsible for our own actions. If they broke company policy, ethical practice, and Federal Law, they should be prosecuted. If they were forced to do that, we'd have a different type of case. This states that the people involved were paid by someone to do this. Obviously paying someone to commit a crime is a crime that would also have to be dealt with.
October 29, 2008 01:37 pm
Whats scary is the bunch of idi0ts here who seemingly cant read or digest what the article is about. This is about an EMPLOYEE who used their own greed, and took advantage of their position to sell records for profitThis has nothing to do with AT&T, their employees or as someone stated above, their NETWORK? WHAT??Its amazing to see people make up stories and drama, now I realize why there are so many idiots in this country. School is very important, Try it !
October 29, 2008 01:37 pm
AT&T taking the privacy of its customers seriously? If so, why did they comply with the Bush Administration's warrantless wiretapping in recent years?