$88M lawsuit charges AT&T employee with leaking private information

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.”