Did the Verizon guy tell me the truth?

Since I've heard about Verizon handing our private information and call logs to
this misAdministration, I've been peeved and concerned. I have a Verizon cell phone.

After canceling my online/auto pay arrangement, I called tonight to discuss canceling my service.

The Verizon employee asked why I wanted to cancel the service.
I told him that I was unhappy that Verizon would willingly reveal my private, customer
information to the government.

Here's the kicker...the Verizon guy told me that Verizon Wireless did not give any information to the government---but Verizon did. He further explained that Verizon is a separate company from Verizon Wireless--with separate CEOs/mgmt. He said Verizon (a local phone-service carrier) gave information to the government, but Verizon Wireless did not. He went on to say that the government does not have any information on Verizon Wireless customers, or their cell phone records/calls, but they do have information on Verizon (local phone-service) customers.

I then asked him to clarify if Verizon and Verizon Wireless were part of the same company.
He said they were. I then told him that obviously, someone at the top of "Verizon" made the
decision to hand over this information to the government--and these people could just as easily
decide to hand over the Verizon Wireless information in the future, if they hadn't all ready.

Does anyone know if the Verizon guy's statements were accurate? Is it true that our Verizon
Wireless cell calls or call records were not compromised? This is the first time I've heard this version of events.

If anyone has any info on the accuracy of Verizon Guy's statement, I would appreciate it. Thanks for any information. :)

Did they route your calls through Verizon's switches, especially in San Francisco? Because if they did, the NSA and the government got your call records, broken out by cell number.

I got $5.00 that says they did.

I work for a HUGE wireless company that used to be a HUGE telecom and is still HUGE.
Believe me, wireless ain't just wireless.
What do you think, your call just flies through the air?
Sooner or later it hits the backbone network.

And baby,that ain't nothing but switches on top of more switches.
The NSA is inside of the ones that count.

...I thought Verizon Guys' explanation was pure BS and that he was responding
off of a company-mandated script.

That's why I wanted the truth...because when I call back to cancel, I want to
be able to cut through the baloney.

I EmbarQed from them recently.

from Bell South this evening. I was charged over $60.00 for calls that are free under my local service area so I called to have them removed.

I mentioned to the customer service rep that I was not happy with Bell South for giving our phone information to the government,

She told me that Bell South would NEVER do anything like that! That they had received a letter from the corporate headquarters telling them that it was not true and Bell South had not done this.

I asked her if she knew that Bush gave the phone companies permission to lie... :evilgrin:

She was unaware of that and was a bit flustered.

Any way, I got the charges taken off my bill.

...about Bush giving the phone companies permission to lie. I remember reading
about that.

Can you clarify...did Junior simply make a statement about the phone companies
not being required to let the public know their info has been released? Or did
he sign a bill allowing the companies to lie?

Thanks again for any add'l information. :)

There was discussion about this here - but my mind is not accessing the datafile at this moment...

In any event it was not an action in consultation with legislature or judicial, I believe. - as usual.

since de-regulation in the 80's, calls go through multiple networks. If this is still true, it doesn't matter which company your service is with, your calls might go through a compromised network.

BTW they are technically separate companies

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/unhappycamper/4

Read it and weep.

VZW and Verizon are two divisions of the same company but they don't share anything as far as decisionmaking.

So, if you want to cancel as a punishment to Verizon, that's cool; if you're worried about them choosing to reveal your data, your wireless carriers aren't the ones doing that.

Also, if you are worried about people tracking your phone conversations, don't use a cell phone.

Seriously. If you use a cell phone, the NSA is the least of your worries; any number of crime outfits intercept cell conversations and use them for identity theft.

the government doesn't need to have wireless companies hand over records as all wireless is broadcasted over the air for anyone to listen and track. Follow my grandparents advice and don't talk on the phone about things you don't want known and that was years before cell phones.