Celebrity Phone Record Hacking As A New Pasttime

from the privacy-schmivacy dept

Jeremiah writes “In 2001, Techdirt discussed the purchasing of phone records by third-parties. Well, today, AmericaBlog went and purchased Gen. Wesley Clark’s cell phone records from November. This obviously has huge national security implications, not to mention obvious privacy issues. The blogosphere is currently using this exploit to do its own investigating in the current Abramoff scandal, which displays how this loophole could (theoretically) be used in the public’s best interest.” We discussed the availability of phone numbers earlier this week. The AmericaBlog post focuses its outrage on how come the government isn’t doing anything to stop this, but that’s the wrong target. The real question is how come the mobile operators are letting this information out in the first place?


Rate this comment as insightful
Rate this comment as funny
You have rated this comment as insightful
You have rated this comment as funny
Flag this comment as abusive/trolling/spam
You have flagged this comment
The first word has already been claimed
The last word has already been claimed
Insightful Lightbulb icon Funny Laughing icon Abusive/trolling/spam Flag icon Insightful badge Lightbulb icon Funny badge Laughing icon Comments icon

Comments on “Celebrity Phone Record Hacking As A New Pasttime”

Subscribe: RSS Leave a comment
5 Comments
LWD says:

So let me get this straight

A cell phone company WON’T release the GPS data on a phone even when the customer is GIVING permission so that the GPS can be used to track his stolen car with his child inside, per yesterday’s news. But they WILL sell anyone’s records to anybody who waves a credit card in their face, regardless of how sensitive the call data might be. Good to know.

jeff (user link) says:

Hmm...

This is a fuc*ing enormous security hole in a big system. Someone could go buy a cabinet members phone records, get his kids phone numbers by a simple elimination process, then maybe talk their kids into going somwhere and meeting who they think is a peer. Kidnap. Ransom. More jobs in big media.

All bad things.

It’d be nice if the government catered to people instead of corporations. Maybe if they did, this problem wouldn’t exist.

Add Your Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Have a Techdirt Account? Sign in now. Want one? Register here

Comment Options:

Make this the or (get credits or sign in to see balance) what's this?

What's this?

Techdirt community members with Techdirt Credits can spotlight a comment as either the "First Word" or "Last Word" on a particular comment thread. Credits can be purchased at the Techdirt Insider Shop »

Follow Techdirt

Techdirt Daily Newsletter

Ctrl-Alt-Speech

A weekly news podcast from
Mike Masnick & Ben Whitelaw

Subscribe now to Ctrl-Alt-Speech »
Techdirt Deals
Techdirt Insider Discord
The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...
Loading...