Palin's Yahoo! Account Hacked

[Neil D]

Ok, supper surfers dudes and dudeettes

What do you make of this...?

Updated 8:37 p.m.

By Michael D. Shear and Karl Vick

A group of computer hackers said yesterday they accessed a Yahoo! e-mail account of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the Republican vice presidential nominee, publishing some of her private communications to expose what appeared to be her use of a personal account for government business.

The hackers posted what they said were personal photos, the contents of several messages, the subject lines of dozens of e-mails and Palin's e-mail contact list on a site called WikiLeaks.org. That site claimed that it received the electronic files from a group identifying itself only as "Anonymous."

"At around midnight last night some members affiliated with the group gained access to governor Palin's email account, 'gov.palin@yahoo.com' and handed over the contents to the government sunshine site Wikileaks.org," said a message on the site.

Rick Davis, the campaign manager for Sen. John McCain, issued a statement Wednesday afternoon condemning the incident.

"This is a shocking invasion of the Governor's privacy and a violation of law," Davis said. "The matter has been turned over to the appropriate authorities and we hope that anyone in possession of these e-mails will destroy them. We will have no further comment."

The episode focuses attention on Palin's use of her personal e-mail account as lawmakers in Alaska probe whether she fired the state's police commissioner, Walter Monegan, because he refused to take action against her brother-in-law, a state trooper at the time.

Palin has come under fire in recent days for her use of a personal e-mail accounts to conduct state business. An Alaska activist has filed a Freedom of Information Act request seeking disclosure of e-mails from another Yahoo! account that Palin used, gov. sarah@yahoo.com.

That account appears to have been linked to the one that was hacked.

Both accounts appear to have been deactivated. E-mails sent to them Wednesday afternoon were returned as undeliverable.

Andrée McLeod, the activist who filed the FOIA request, said Wednesday evening that Palin should have known better than to conduct state business using an unsecured e-mail account.

"If this woman is so careless as to conduct state business on a private e-mail account that has been hacked into, what in the world is she going to do when she has access to information that is vital to our national security interests?" she asked.

McLeod's Anchorage attorney, Donald C. Mitchell, said Palin refused to comply with a public records request in June to divulge 1,100 e-mails sent to and from her personal accounts, citing executive privilege.

"There's a reason the governor should be using her own official e-mail channels, because of security and encryption," the attorney said. "She's running state business out of Yahoo?"

McCain officials did not return calls and e-mails seeking further comment on the hacking episode and McLeod's remarks.

The images of the Yahoo inbox posted by hackers is stippled with the names of Palin aides using both official and private e-mail addresses.

Among the e-mails released as part of the records request in June were several from Frye asking a state official whether private e-mail accounts and messages sent to BlackBerry devices are immune to subpoena, then reporting the answer to the governor and her husband, Todd, who also uses a Yahoo! mail address.

One e-mail referenced "Draft letter to Governor Schwarzenegger / Container Tax" and another said "DPS Personnel and Budget Issues," an apparent reference to the Alaska Department of Public Safety.

Michael Allison, the CEO of the Internet Crimes Group, a private company specializing in Internet security, said the hackers may have gained access to Palin's account by using publicly available information to guess her password, or by using a small program called a trojan to capture her keystrokes.

"I would hope the authorities would be all over this," Allison said. "The only deterrent is that people know the certainty of being caught."

[jasd]

Having finished reading the post - I notice that it is unaccompanied by the expected censure - denoting a principled objection to the practice of posting for public consumption the cell phone numbers, address, and photos - of female minors.

But then, I've always suspected that the agida of our national lefters (referencing those certain unmentionable blogsites)

concerning 'privacy issues' was simply political posturing :-o

[John317]

Andrée McLeod, the activist who filed the FOIA request, said Wednesday evening that Palin should have known better than to conduct state business using an unsecured e-mail account.

"If this woman is so careless as to conduct state business on a private e-mail account that has been hacked into, what in the world is she going to do when she has access to information that is vital to our national security interests?" she asked.

What exactly was the "state business" Governor Palin was supposedly "conducting"? I think you will find out there was no state business but merely a conversation between herself and the Lt. Governor about the media. I don't see any state business there.

[Tom Wetmore]

...What exactly was the "state business" Governor Palin was supposedly "conducting"? I think you will find out there was no state business but merely a conversation between herself and the Lt. Governor about the media. I don't see any state business there.

You don't see?!?! Specifics start in the very next sentence after the quote you posted... Read more carefully before you fire off a shoot from the hip Repulican defensive post...

Quote:

McLeod's Anchorage attorney, Donald C. Mitchell, said Palin refused to comply with a public records request in June to divulge 1,100 e-mails sent to and from her personal accounts, citing executive privilege. [if she is claiming executive privilege she is declaring that those 1,100 e-mails are in fact official state business of the governor's office. - TW]

...

The images of the Yahoo inbox posted by hackers is stippled with the names of Palin aides using both official and private e-mail addresses. [Evidence of common use by her adminstration of using unsecure personal e-mail for official business. - TW]

...

One e-mail referenced "Draft letter to Governor Schwarzenegger / Container Tax" and another said "DPS Personnel and Budget Issues," an apparent reference to the Alaska Department of Public Safety.

Tom

[Dr. Shane]

Someone hacks into her email and yet there is nothing there that damages her politically. Wow! I am impressed.

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

I don't understand the hand-wringing about most of the political broughaha here. Who cares if someone's Yahoo email gets hacked. Mine did. So what?

I think I am a politically incorrect nonconforming GOP with Democratic leanings who votes for whom she feels the best candidate for the position of president will be. Where's the Bull Moose Party when you need it?

[Dr. Shane]

One of the problems with this is that private addresses and cell phone numbers were leaked out onto the web. Palin's pregnant daughter's cell phone number was published on the web and people have been calling her. That is a pretty big invasion of privacy.

[John317]

I would be outraged if anyone did that to Obama or Biden. No one should be invading anyone's accounts, Democratic or Republican.

[Neil D]

What outrages me is the fact that this woman, conservative evangelical, feels that public email systems are more private than goverment emails systems and used a public account, to discuss goverment business.

Not kosher....in anyone's deli.

It shows that she distrust her own goverment or she is very foolish...Are you guys sure you want someone like this with nuclear codes????

I tell you, this woman is scary!

Oh, I have anecdotal confirmation that the town she is from is Alaska's "meth capital"....I would like to know what she did to encouraged the clean up of meth in that town while mayor and governor....That has to be a big issue in that place and therefore an issue for the mayor and governor to figure out how to clean it up.....What did she do?

Republicans, I have heard nothing....What have you heard?

[Woody]

I am convinced that Obama will resort to anything to get elected.

[Dr. Shane]

Palin is scary because she uses Yahoo?

Wow!

I guess we should also say she is scary because as governor she choose to use commercial airlines instead of a state-owned jet.

Can we trust anyone that chooses the private sector over the government?

[carolaa]

I think hackers are terrible, and I hope they are found and prosecuted. On the other hand, I think some government officials are using the term "executive privilege" far too loosely these days, and I wonder if this isn't just a natural result of such unnecessary and suspicious secrecy.

[Woody]

It is now a federal offense and the feds are going to hunt down and prosecute them. To threaten a candidate for VP is a federal offense. The Secret Service protects her and thus they also are threatened. These guys are in big trouble.

[jasd]

QR frame:

Even the Pentagon and the FBI files are regularly hacked. There is practically no system that has not been hacked... it is said that the real reason Reagan wanted the mobile MX system - was that he suspected our ICBMs had been hacked and couldn't be relied upon to follow the flight paths we'd programmed. He wanted a hack-free new system. Well, we know that he had that Congress to contend with.

Strawman.

Exactly, what govt business of magnitude was conducted through Palin's personal email account? I mean, real business, the sort that elicits the reactions we're seeing?

Let me note: that it's somewhat disconcerting to see Americans condoning and dredging the same depths of the unseemly as Obama and other lefters do.

Yikes! --Pogo

[carolaa]

it's somewhat disconcerting to see Americans condoning and dredging the same depths of the unseemly as Obama and other lefters do.

Surely you jest. The lefters may be good at dredging, but the righters are the best at lying and distorting. GHWBush (Mr. Read My Lips)was one of the best.

[Tom Wetmore]

Palin is scary because she uses Yahoo?

Wow!...

OK Mr. Republican apologist, this really should be a "DUH!" moment. Let me break this down to simple thoughts. Government e-mail servers have a significant security and encryption system to protect against just this sort of very easy hacking that can be done on freebie e-mail. There is also back-up and required record keeping, even if privileged and confidential, for governmental correspondence.

The problem is three-fold -

1.) Using unsecured freebie Yahoo exposes confidential and privileged government correspondence to potential tampering and exposure. Security of communications is a big deal in business and especially in government.

2.) It bypasses the necessary and automatic recording keeping system so things can be hidden from discovery later when needed. It evidences a need to create a secret communication loop outside of normal channels. and

3.) Using Yahoo evidences a person lacking good judgment and/or someone who thinks they can bypass and disregard the rules that apply to everyone else, or someone with the intent to subvert the system and hide their actions. One may say maverick, another may say loose cannon on deck.

Tom

[Neil D]

Palin is scary because she uses Yahoo?

Wow!

[snip]

Can we trust anyone that chooses the private sector over the government?

[Woody]

Woooo. Cool down my friend.

[jasd]

Bush!? the elder?

>>...lying and distorting.<<

Umm, you're dismissing the gutter politics mentioned in the lead post this thread, yes?

"Read my lips: no new taxes"

"Once he became president, however, Bush was pressured by Democrats and some Republicans to raise taxes as a way to reduce the national budget deficit. Bush refused many times but was making no progress with a Senate and House that was controlled by Democrats. Bush later agreed to a compromise in which he worked with Congressional Democrats to raise several taxes as part of a 1990 budget agreement. This reversal caused great controversy, especially in the more conservative wing of the Republican Party. Although technically there were no new taxes in this agreement,

Bush in the same speech also ruled out raising existing taxes."

I'm not going to stand on technicalities... The elder Bush erred to go along with the opposition; especially, THAT opposition.

'nuff said. :-o

[Neil D]

OK Mr. Republican apologist, this really should be a "DUH!" moment. Let me break this down to simple thoughts.

[jasd]

Quote:

Quote:jasd

Exactly, what govt business of magnitude was conducted through Palin's personal email account? I mean, real business, the sort that elicits the reactions we're seeing?

I've not found anything at all to warrant the hysteria of those engaging - in what are turning out to be baseless charges.

I hope that evidence of a sort is presented, as I hate to think that the lefters of this list would engage in

the same execrable practices currently manifesting from the Dem' Party.

:-o

[Dr. Shane]

Originally Posted By: Shane

Palin is scary because she uses Yahoo?

Wow!...

Let me break this down to simple thoughts. Government e-mail servers have a significant security and encryption system to protect against just this sort of very easy hacking that can be done on freebie e-mail. There is also back-up and required record keeping, even if privileged and confidential, for governmental correspondence.

Tom

The same exists for corporate email - not just government. But that isn't the point. No state secrets were kept on her Yahoo account. It was not against any policy to use Yahoo. No wrong was done. To try and use this as a rallying cry not to vote for her is very weak and shows clear desperation.

[Dr. Shane]

Oh, on a side note, Shane, when you post this stuff -

Quote:

I am convinced that Obama will resort to anything to get elected.

This is known as "highjacking a thread". This is bad netettiquet and is NOT ALLOWED.

I don't know that I ever posted that. It certainly doesn't reflect my thoughts. I am convinced that some Obama supporters will do anything to win just as I am convinced that some McCain supporters will do anything to win. But I am not convinced that either of the candidates would do anything to win.

As far as taking a thread of topic... well that is done all the time here. As long as we are not making another member of the forum the topic of the thread, it doesn't bother me too much.

[Dr. Shane]

If she were using Yahoo to keep things outside of goverment prying eyes, then I would suspect that those emails would be very incriminating....

OF course we know she wasn't trying to keep anything outside the "prying' eyes of government and there was nothing incriminating. There is no way to keep any email from the "prying" eyes of government so to suggest that as a motive is really a strawman and shows clear desperation.

[Tom Wetmore]

...there was nothing incriminating...

If that is the case, why all the stone-walling about troopergate - claiming executive privilege, refusing to comply with subpoenas, having the small army of McCain legal goons trying desperately to shut down the investigation(at least until after the election...), trying to make this out to be some partisan witch hunt which it is not, etc., etc.?

Yes it may be an insignificant thing, but so was a petty burglary at a place called Watergate. You would think the Republicans would remember the big Nixon mistake - IT'S NOT THE CRIME, IT'S THE COVER-UP...

I think the McCain campaign has made a huge strategic mistake to try to deep-six the trooper gate investigation. It just makes it look like Palin really does have something to hide. Maybe they do know something we don't... and really don't want us voters to know all about it.