Theft Of Verizon Wireless Customer Records By Tennessee Company Halted

BEDMINSTER, NJ — Verizon Wireless announced today that it has secured a court order to halt a Tennessee-based company's illegal practice of obtaining and selling confidential telephone records of Verizon Wireless customers.

Earlier this summer, Verizon Wireless sued Cookeville, Tenn.-based Source Resources Inc., in New Jersey State Superior Court in Somerset County, N.J., seeking among other things an injunction barring Source Resources from acquiring, possessing or selling confidential Verizon Wireless customer account information without a valid court order or the customer's express consent.

Superior Court Judge Harriet Derman ordered a permanent injunction against Source Resources Tuesday as part of a settlement between Verizon Wireless and the company. Source Resources also agreed to cooperate with Verizon Wireless by surrendering records of its transactions and information about how it previously obtained customer records.

"Accessing a person's personal telephone records without a valid court order or the customer's permission is illegal," said Steven Zipperstein, General Counsel and Vice President of Legal and External Affairs at Verizon Wireless. "Verizon Wireless will protect our customers against these kinds of assaults on their privacy, and we will use every weapon in our legal arsenal to shut down identity-theft operations."

The lawsuit was filed by Verizon Wireless July 8th against Source Resources, which advertised on its Internet site the capability to secure confidential wireless telephone records for a fee. Verizon Wireless brought the lawsuit after one of its customers reported that his confidential wireless phone records had been secured without his permission by Source Resources.

Verizon Wireless' record of protecting customer privacy puts it at the forefront of the U.S. consumer service companies. In August 2004, the company won a permanent injunction against a group that was "spamming" Verizon Wireless customers with unsolicited text messages. The company also broke with the wireless industry by becoming the first to announce it would protect customer privacy by refusing to participate in a national wireless phone directory. Most recently, the company filed ground-breaking lawsuits against two telemarketing firms who had flooded Verizon Wireless customers with unwanted calls.

About Verizon Wireless
Verizon Wireless owns and operates the nation's most reliable wireless network, serving 47.4 million voice and data customers. Headquartered in Bedminster, NJ, Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) and Vodafone (NYSE and LSE: VOD). Find more information on the Web at www.verizonwireless.com. To preview and request broadcast-quality video footage and high-resolution stills of Verizon Wireless operations, log on to the Verizon Wireless Multimedia Library at www.verizonwireless.com/multimedia.

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