Collocation Access

Mon Oct 23 17:19:15 UTC 2006

Alex Rubenstein wrote:

> Craig Holland wrote:

>> Is this some new trend or have I just gotten lucky in the past? 
>> Wouldn't someone like AT&T be better served by giving their 
>> employees some company issued ID that they can submit to secure 
>> facilities?  I know it wouldn't be government issued, but would at
>> least be a step in the right direction.

I'm a little surprised by all this, truthfully. I *know* that AT&T has 
to work inside certain facilities that are government run, and they are 
*required* to provide government issued ID, company issued ID, and 
social security number (really!) at a minimum. They must also state 
whether or not they are a US citizen, and if not, what country they hold 
citizenship in.

> I am shocked that the ATT employee did not have an ATT ID. In our 
> facilities, we require all visiting telcos to produce company 
> identification, and between telcove/level 3, Verizon, MCI, and 
> several others, we have never had an issue. I'd be a bit more 
> suspicious that he didn't have ATT ID.

Me too. In my former life, I was involved with such requirements (but 
only at what the fedgov lovingly refers to as contractor sites), and we 
always had the alternative for anyone objecting to our requirements for 
ID. No problem. They could just sit in the lobby (or outside) and wait. 
I used to object to our method of gathering social security numbers 
(since it was on a form that anyone adding a name could see), but I can 
tell you that it was much more onerous than your standard telco.

-- 
This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
           William Shakespeare