The Big "Oops"

I love these stories because it's fun to laugh at other people's misfortunes. I cry because as a database administrator, I know all too well how easily something like this can happen. Can you imagine the poor slob(s) who inadvertantly let this slip? They are all probably going to have to find themselves a whole new career path. This is a little too high-profile to sweep under the carpet.

UNLISTED PHONE NUMBERS PUBLISHED
Officials at Verizon Communications said this week that due to a computer problem, phone numbers of as many as 12,000 Verizon customers who asked that their phone numbers be unlisted may end up published in phone directories. Verizon published at least 9,000 of the numbers in its own directory that includes Virginia, Maryland, and West Virginia, but the company, which is required to disclose its customers' numbers to competing directory services, inadvertently released as many as 12,000 unlisted numbers to other directories. Verizon has offered to refund the fees that consumers pay to have their numbers unlisted or to change customers' phone numbers free of charge if they so choose. Officials from Verizon said the problem resulted from a conversion to a new computer system.
Washington Post, 11 August 2004 (registration req'd)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A55022-2004Aug10.html