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RSSThe automated caller hung up.
That was the message I received on my answering machine on Aug. 17 at 11:09 a.m. Didn't take it seriously. I am a Verizon customer in good standing -- or so I thought. I have four accounts: two local/long distance and two wireless family plans. I pay my bills on time. Roughly $214 a month, which translates into $2,500 annually. And I'm possibly a good candidate for their FiOS TV service when it arrives in my neighborhood, which would probably translate into another couple of thousands, when one considers I would probably switch to DSL as well in some quadruple bypass package (video, broadband access, landline, wireless).
Wednesday morning (Aug. 22) at 10:07 a.m., I contacted the High Toll department. A High Toller answered the phone and asked for my name, mailing address as it appears on the billing statement and mother's maiden name. I provided the information.
"Didn't you receive my last $54 payment?" I queried.
"What is your account number, sir?" she asked. I told her that I didn't have it handy. "What is this about? I asked.
"Did you recently call South Korea?"
"I did."
"Did you call numerous times?"
"Three, to be exact."
"It is unusual for you to be calling South Korea. We have not noticed any prior calls to that country on your account, sir."
And so I thought this was my indoctrination into the Bush Administration's new surveillance Protect America Act -- the one that allows the tapping without warrants of telephone calls and e-mail routed through the U.S. Must admit I was nervous. I didn't think that explaining to a South Korean media consultant, new media policies and advertising applications in the televisual realm in the U.S., was a breach of intelligence vital to the security of my fellow Americans.
By post, Thursday Aug. 23, an officious letter, dated Aug. 17, from Verizon arrives:
"Account Number: xxxxxxx (to protect my identity) Service Number: (left blank)Dear Verizon customer
In an effort to protect customers, Verizon investigates and quickly attempts to notify customers of any unusual usage on their Verizon accounts. This usage may include invoiced or unbilled long distance charges. We have noticed unusual usage on your account, but have been unable to contact you by phone to verify the validity of the charges.
Your service has been interrupted as a security measure...."
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But it is comforting, at least to me, to to know that Verizon called to make sure someone had not snatched my identity.
Marianne Paskowski
A few years later, due to sudden change in plans, I ended up making a lot of calls from a hotel in Kentucky. I frequently made calls from Kentucky and from the same hotel. This time they froze my card. When I tried to find out what was going I was told the card was invalid because of non payment. That one took me two business days to straighten out.
By the way, both incidents were during the Clinton administration.
This is not a looking-out-for-the-consumer move since consumers are not responsible for fraudulent charges. This is a saving-money-for-the-credit-card company move. Also, the same credit card company could've easily looked at our charge history and seen that the travel arrangements for the trip in question were made USING THE SAME CARD! They had no answer for us when we pointed this out to them, they only restated their position that they needed to be informed whenever we were going to leave the country. Thanks Dad, I'll be sure to do that.
It is amazing to me that all anyone has to do in these times is say they're "doing something for your own protection" and most people will simply accept whatever is being done unquestioningly
So no, while you are correct that Verizon was one of the companies found to be handing off all (yes, all of them, so yours too) their call logs to the NSA, in this case it's a pretty clear cut corporate policy, not anything having to do with the government. Usually government flags seem to result in a casual but official questioning by the FBI.
If a 3rd party listening in to your communications is actually a concern for you, it is entirely appropriate for you to establish encrypted channels of communication, provided you spend a little time figuring out how to set it up. In many cases, this would likely be good practice in general, as your bigger concern than the government listening in is the more immediate threat of corporate espionage - something that is more prevalent than you might think.
South Korea is on our side last time I checked so I doubt it is Big Brother. Of course, terrorist surveillance is similarly intended to protect you, not just from people who want to rip you off but who want to kill you. It's a sad commentary on the current political environment that people fear their protecters rather than their enemies.