Verizon Wireless found that some employees viewed information from an Obama cell-phone account that has been discontinued for several months, the company disclosed last week. Verizon was investigating employees who saw the information, with and without authorization, and put them on paid leave. Later reports said some had been fired.

Verizon declined to comment for this story.

Information that is saved by mobile operators -- and that might be available to unauthorized or unscrupulous employees -- includes whom you talked to, when you called them or they called you, and for how long you talked, as well as text messages and voicemail, according to Ari Schwartz, vice president and chief operating officer of the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT).

The information can also include your locations when you started and ended the call, as determined by cell towers or other techniques, CDT Senior Counsel John Morris said. The risk is greater with current accounts than with closed ones like the Obama record that was snooped, Schwartz said, because some types of data are kept longer than others.

There have been few cases of internal snooping on mobile records, at least ones that have seen the light of day, according to attorneys and analysts in this area. But neither are there clear protections, they charge.