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Fast Food Workers Fighting for Decent Wages; NATO's Vital for U.S., European Future; Stolen Credit Card Information Sold on Black Market; Father Who'd Left His Son in Hot SUV Could Get Indicted Soon; Very Rambunctious

Aired September 04, 2014 - 10:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KENDALL FELLS, PRESIDENT FAST FOOD FORWARD: This movement started in 2012 and since then, the campaign spread from one city to 150 cities in the U.S. The last strike there was activity on six continents. The president has pledged his support of the fast food workers.

Minimum wage is being raised to $15 in Seattle, they're voting on $15 in San Francisco. L.A. is going to $13. I think they have the support of Americans. Americans don't want to see fast food workers who are the lowest paid workers. There are $7 billion of taxpayer money being used to assist these workers.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: So, you're energized because state governments are enacting legislation raising the minimum wage but the restaurants themselves have not responded to your protests.

FELLS: Well, if you look on the ground in actuality, a lot of these workers who are involved in these protests and strikes when they first began, they weren't getting raises, they had no respect, could be fired any day. Now they're getting raises a lot of them, now a lot of them can have sensible conversations with their managers, get more days and more hours and generally speaking, there's just a lot more respect inside of the store. It is true that the industry as a whole has not come to the table yet and that's why fast food workers voted at the convention to escalate and do whatever it takes for 15 in a union because they want to make sure the industry sees them, hears them and feels them so that they come to the table and negotiate.

COSTELLO: So is there -- quick as restaurants say, you know, if they raise wages it will put them out of business, right?

FELLS: Right.

COSTELLO: So, are you no longer worried about that? Have you ever been worried about that?

FELLS: Yeah, I mean, you know, French - what the fast food industry has historically done, is they've hid behind their franchisees. There was a case in front of the NLRB and the general council ruled that McDonald's is essentially the franchisor and they're on the hook for what happens inside their stores. They can no longer hide behind their franchisees and hide from what's happening inside their stores. Ultimately, it's a $200 billion industry. They have plenty of money. There's more than enough money to pay $15 an hour to the workers and give them a union.

COSTELLO: So, you're sounding very confident and victorious almost.

FELLS: Yeah, I mean, you know, when these workers started in 2012 I remember people saying they were crazy and there was no way they'll win and now you see people in the country who are low wage workers that are making $15 an hour and it's because fast food workers were brave enough to do it.

So, we're very confident that we're going to win this campaign and fast food workers have pledged not to stop until they win.

COSTELLO: Kendall Fells, thanks so much for joining me. I appreciate it.

FELLS: Thanks for having us.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Still to come in the "NEWSROOM," NATO leaders stand shoulder to shoulder, but will they see eye to eye on the threat of ISIS. CNN's Michelle Kosinski live for the start of today's summit. Good morning.

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol. And just in the nick of time seemingly we're hearing words like cease-fire and peace plan relating to Russia and Ukraine. We'll tell you all about it next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: President Obama and other Western leaders are attending the most important NATO summit in years. The military alliance faces two growing threats - Russia's military incursion into Ukraine and the advance of ISIS fighters into Syria and Iraq. Great Britain's prime minister says the Islamic extremism poses, quote, a generational struggle. White House correspondent Michelle Kosinski is outside of the NATO summit in Cardiff, Wales, and already there are some good news, tell us.

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, possibly, I mean there is some skepticism surrounding this. But the information is just coming in and looks like what will happen is Russia and Ukraine will meet tomorrow in Ukraine, each side will present its proposals for a peace plan and if these can be agreed upon and a document signed, then there will be a ceasefire beginning tomorrow. Seems like it's just in the nick of time because NATO has plenty on its plate right now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KOSINSKI (voice-over): This morning while President Obama met with British Prime Minister David Cameron, their joint op-ed in the "Times of London" circulated, titled bluntly "We Will Not be Cowed by Barbaric Killers" stating "Today NATO is as vital to our future as it's ever been." On that ISIS threat President Obama is still fielding some hits for the way he has described things. Yesterday he said this was the U.S. objective.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: To degrade and destroy ISIL so it's no longer a threat.

KOSINSKI: A big statement. But when questioned by reporters then he said it was --

OBAMA: To make sure that ISIL is not an ongoing threat to the region.

KOSINSKI: And ...

OBAMA: ... continue to shrink ISIL's sphere of influence.

KOSINSKI: CNN's Jim Sciutto later sat down with Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel who framed the U.S. goal this way.

CHUCK HAGEL, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: To degrade and destroy the capability of ISIL, to come after U.S. interests all over the world and our allies.

KOSINSKI: He said destroy and degrade its capability. Is that the same as destroying ISIS? He says yes, that all of the above statements are true. That the long-term objective is still as the administration has said, to destroy ISIS, in the shorter term to stop its spread.

HAGEL: The president asked us for different options and we've prepared those.

KOSINSKI: That's right. Hagel said those much talked about strategy options including in Syria, have been prepared and presented to the president, but they evolve. He also emphasized repeatedly the need for international and regional coalitions. This is one of the goals here for NATO.

As well as, of course, dealing with Russia. The U.S. doesn't yet buy Vladimir Putin's talk of a ceasefire, which seems to also include Ukraine giving up chunks of its territory. The U.S. still won't call it an invasion.

OBAMA: It is a brazen assault on the territorial integrity of Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOSINSKI (on camera): And still the West isn't so sure about this possible ceasefire plan. Just in the last hour Western powers expressed condemnation of Russia's actions and said that there does need to be further sanctions against Russia. Carol?

COSTELLO: All right. Michelle Kosinski reporting live for us this morning, thank you. Still to come in the NEWSROOM, bad news for Home Depot shoppers. Millions of people may be at risk of having their credit and debit card information not just stolen, but also sold on the black market. CNN Money tech correspondent Laurie Segall has more. Hi, Laurie.

LAURIE SEGALL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Carol. While Home Depot investigates the potential data breach, we'll show you how a hacker actually negotiates the sale of your personal data on the black market. It's unbelievable to watch. That's coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Buyer, beware, if you shopped at Home Depot over the summer your credit and debit card information could be at risk. The company confirms it is investigating a possible security breach that could be even larger than the one that affected 40 million Target shoppers last year. It gets worse. All that stolen information is at risk of being sold on the black market. Let's bring in CNN money tech correspondent Laurie Segal. So, that's scary.

LAURIE SEGALL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is. And you think about the last year how many breaches there have been and how much information is floating out there on the dark web. So, we decided to take a deep dive into what happens to your data on the dark web. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEGALL (voice-over): Home Depot is investigating a security breach. That means if you've shopped there recently your credit card could be vulnerable. It's the latest major retailer targeted by hackers. And as more companies are breached, there's more stolen credit card info floating around the web. Let's break down what happens to your data on the black market. A privacy group called the Digital Citizens Alliance says they found a hacker boasting about having credit card numbers. They posed as a customer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm calling about the credit cards.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. Now, did you want CVVs, fulls? Or (INAUDIBLE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think fulls. But I'm trying to figure out how many I can buy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You need the data of birth, social, all that as well?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know. I'm trying to get some cash, so I'm looking to buy some stuff so I can sell it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, so you're looking to buy stuff online, right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. What sites are you planning to target? SEGALL: But before your card is bought and sold over the phone, you'll find them for sale on what's known as the dark web. Think of it as the underbelly of the Internet. It's a network you're only able to access through Tor, an encrypted browser that makes it difficult to identify users. The average black market price for all the data on your credit card is a little over $100. If it's taken from an account on eBay or PayPal it's cheaper. You're looking at a price tag of about $27. The cost to take control of your bank account, close to $200. And stolen cards from Asia are worth more than those from the United States. Different factors including how quickly your credit card company reacts all play into the black market value.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SEGALL: You know, it's pretty unbelievable when you think about the value of those cards. And we actually spoke to a Russian ethical hacker who went on the sites where a lot of this data is being sold and he said lately he's seen a lot of chatter about a lot of new valid credit cards which means they will go for a lot more because people don't know that they've been breached yet, Carol.

COSTELLO: So the Tor that allows you to go onto the dark web, why isn't that illegal or something?

SEGALL: I mean you know, this is - the government. Here is a lot of folks use it. It's a way to safely browse anonymously, and with this comes good, and with this also comes bad, and that's what we are seeing.

COSTELLO: Laurie, stay with us, because I want to bring in Mike English now. He's the executive director of Heartland payment systems, which processes payments for debit and credit cards. Welcome, Mike.

MIKE ENGLISH, EXECUTIVE DIR., HEARTLAND PAYMENT SYSTEMS: Good morning, Carol and good morning, Laurie.

COSTELLO: Glad to have you here. Mike, some experts say shoppers would be safer if they had a chip and pin credit card. First of all, explain to our viewers what that is.

ENGLISH: All right. A chip and pin credit card is instead of the mag stripe that's resident on the card today, you would have a chip, a microprocessor that is activated when you either insert it into the terminal or you tap it on the terminal. This EMV chip has all the account information that would be placed on the mag stripe as well. However, it's much safer. In terms of it has some tamper resistant characteristics that if it's tampered with, it will disable and delete all the internal stored information. It also has information on it and wherewithal to chip and pin, for example, it stores the chip as well as transaction counters and different things that help deny skimming as well as the subsequent counterfeiting.

COSTELLO: OK, so it sounds fantastic, so why aren't we using them?

ENGLISH: Well, that's a great question. And there's a couple of different things. A, as you probably are aware, we are the last region to move to chip and pin. And there's a couple of reasons for that. One is, the mag stripe solutions that we have in place today, everything is online, and it works fairly well. The transactions are quick and people don't have to stand in line because of payments as well. Secondly, is the cost of migrating to EMV. Estimates in the industry range from between $8 billion to $12 billion. That includes new equipments, new equipment, new terminals, the certification with the card brands, training of staffs and that, so there's a lot of things that go into it.

COSTELLO: But still, Laurie, still, Laurie, and I understand it's expensive, but when you factor in all of the costs that companies and credit card companies have to pay out because of hackers does it even out at some point?

SEGALL: I mean especially now when you look at how many breaches there have been, I mean these major retailers are now saying we want to focus on these banks, want to focus on this in the United States. Before it was a bit of that chicken and egg problem. Our merchants didn't want to adopt the technology because the credit card -- the customers didn't have those types of cards but now that's changing. By the end of next year these credit cards, these types of chip cards are going to be rampant in the United States. Even Walmart has just updated most of their systems. So this is something that they are investing in because as we see in the last year or so, even with what's happening potentially with Home Depot, a lot of our info isn't as safe as we thought and everyone wants to make this investment.

COSTELLO: All right. Thanks so much, Laurie Segall and Mike English. I appreciate it. I'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: All right. A suburban Atlanta grand jury could indict the man accused of killing his toddler inside a hot car as early as this afternoon. Justin Harris faces felony murder and second degree child cruelty charges in the death of his 22-month-old son Cooper. You might remember the toddler was left in the back seat of his father's SUV in June while Harris was at work. Joining me now on the phone, Page , a criminal defense attorney. Hi, Page.

PAGE PATE, ATTORNEY: Hey, Carol.

COSTELLO: Why did police decide -- why did the prosecutor decide to take this to the grand jury?

PATE: Well, they were under a tight deadline. In Georgia if a person is not indicted within 90 days after being arrested then that person is entitled to a bond as a matter of law. So, the district attorney knew that he had to indict the case either this week or next week or they would have to give Mr. Harris a bond and let him out of jail.

COSTELLO: How long has the grand jury been hearing the case?

PATE: Well, probably not long. And what's unusual about this case or actually what's usual about this case, and what's different from a grand jury in Ferguson, is that most grand juries only hear the prosecution evidence. In this case what they're going to do is present the main investigating officer who's going to inform the grand jurors about the investigation, the witnesses they've talked to, the evidence that they've found, and you're not going to hear any defense witnesses. So it doesn't take the grand jury long to just hear from that one detective and then deliberate and make a decision.

COSTELLO: There's been so much publicity surrounding this case nationally, but especially locally. Can the grand jury come to some sort of fair decision?

PATE: Well that's interesting, Carol. A lot of people think that if you're going to go to trial you have the right to a fair and impartial jury and that's absolutely true and that's why we occasionally see a change of venue in a high-profile case. But that is not the case with grand juries. There is no constitutional right to an unbiased grand jury. So, I completely expect that many of the people who are serving on this grand jury, have heard about the case and may already have an opinion even before the evidence was presented.

COSTELLO: So your best case as to what might happen later today.

PATE: I anticipate we're going to see an indictment. The real question is, what will the charges be? Just because he was arrested on a warrant for felony murder and for child cruelty, that doesn't limit the grand jury. They could indict him for malice murder which could possibly carry a death penalty sentence or they could indict him for a lesser charge like manslaughter. So, it really is up to the grand jury. But I expect we're going to see some sort of an indictment and some charges later today.

COSTELLO: OK. Of course, CNN will keep an eye on it. Page Pate, thanks so much. I'll be right back.

PATE: Thanks you, Carol.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Do you know somebody who has a reputation as a real badass? Now, imagine him locking horns with Rambro, the angry ram no contest, who else would have the story but Jeanne Moos?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): How would you feel if you were having lunch and suddenly you were buzzed by a drone? Well, if you're a ram named Rambro you live up to your name. You not only ram the drone, you go after the guy who comes to retrieve it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Slow down.

MOOS: The guy who's dedicated a Facebook page to you. The official Facebook page of the badass-- motor bike hating Angry Ram. Oh, how you hate motorbikes. Even though it was a YouTube video of your attack on a motorbike that first made you famous. The Angry Ram was almost a dead ram. The New Zealand farmer who owned him was going to kill him because he was attacking dogs and fences. Marty Todd took him in. Letting him wander his 100 acres to have what Marty calls a love/hate relationship. Rambro has bruised him, but Marty feeds, shaves and pets the Angry Ram.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You must be in a good mood.

MOOS: Marty responded to our questions via e-mail. He's not keen on TV interviews.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cool them.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Rambro.

MOOS: Think of Angry Ram as sort of the grumpy cat of sheep. Now, while grumpy is famous for his frown, Angry is famous for ramming things.

As Marty's nephew found out ...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How do we get away from him without him chasing us?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Run, man.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm so glad I'm wearing this ...

MOOS: A couple of times Marty used bread to distract Rambro and installed a go-pro camera on his back for a little while. When he finally got it on, he got a sheep's eye view of his Subaru getting rammed. No dodging this ram. When he hears a motorbike, he goes out of his way to intercept it. He rams drones. He rams people. He even rams rams.

Jeanne Moos, CNN. New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: That's seven years bad luck, Rambro.

Thank you so much for joining me today. I'm Carol Costello.

"@THISHOUR" with Berman and Michaela starts now.