Palin Email Hacker Found 767
mortonda writes to tell us that the person responsible for breaching Sarah Palin's private email account has been found. We discussed the breach last Wednesday, shortly before the hacker, a University of Tennessee-Knoxville student, posted a message detailing his methods. Wired has a story examining the potential legal consequences for the hacker.
Equal punishment? (Score:3, Interesting)
Not that, you know, I have a hotmail account...
Re:"Hacker" (Score:5, Interesting)
Not even password guessing. He apparently took public information about her and reset the password.
If anyone wondered if demanding date of birth, home town, etc. was a BAD way of determining identity, this should resolve that for them.
And Links To Others... (Score:4, Interesting)
They might give the kid a partial immunity deal if he gives up someone in office or the Obama campaign.
It's been reported that his father is an ultra-liberal Democrat in state office - who does have some serious connections with the Obama campaign.
IF (big "if") there is any link to any campaign, then we have almost the exact same thing as Watergate going on here. This would then be the first "-gate" scandal since the original that actually deserves the name.
Can anyone say "what did they know and when did they know it?"
Re:This Just In (Score:3, Interesting)
OR, she could be obeying a governmental policy that says government accounts are not to be used for personal or campaign purposes. Did any of sample emails that were posted fall into the category of official business?
Re:Why can't a government employee use Yahoo? (Score:3, Interesting)
I haven't read her email, but what I've heard was she was corresponding with heir aides about how to handle PR on several negative issues. It's a blurry line but I suppose that could be considered personal. Probably best to have made a phone call instead.
Re:This Just In (Score:4, Interesting)
Oh I definitely lean to the left and feel Palin would be grossly unqualified should the qualified (but very old) McCain were to have health issues requiring him to leave office. I missed the part on slashdot where I have to register my political bias! This isn't a newspaper I'm entitled to my opinion on the facts available to me. Also keep reading additional posts to see what else I have to say and why I came to that conclusion (i.e. recieving and responding to emails from Aides of politicalrelevance is activity I would consider official).
Which way do you lean? Left or right? Do you feel it in any way biases your thoughts/comments?
The ctunnel guy is a dick (Score:2, Interesting)
Would they mobilize the whole CIA for me...? (Score:4, Interesting)
If somebody hacked my email would they start a huge investigation or is justice only for the privileged few.
Re:Why can't a government employee use Yahoo? (Score:1, Interesting)
It's a blurry line but I suppose that could be considered personal.
So we have two people:
(1) Sarah Palin, who may or may not have crossed a "blurry line".
(2) Some punk who obviously broke the law, caused chaos, and distracted from other issues during an election for the US President.
Maybe you should reconsider how quickly you accuse people without evidence. I'd also be interested to know how you would have reacted if the perpetrator instead attacked Obama and ended up being connected to an elected Republican.
Re:And Links To Others... (Score:1, Interesting)
The guy was a /b/tard. You can keep your Republican propaganda for yourself and kindly shut the fuck up.
He's also from a Democrat family. Doing exactly what Democrat sites like, say, Democratic Underground espouse.
I guess the nuts don't fall too far from the tree, eh?
Kinda like those Democrat family members who slashed tires on cars owned by Republicans back in 2004. They went to jail.
Face it. You're just pissed he not only got caught, but he pretty much proved all the fantasies about Palin misusing email are just that: fantasies.
Re:This Just In (Score:2, Interesting)
I'm sorry I have to ask, but wtf is "/b/" ? Is this some kind of reference to something on 4chan (something else I know little of)?
Re:This Just In (Score:3, Interesting)
While they may both feel that way, Gov. Palin's use of yahoo email provides zero insight regarding that mentality. No one has identified a single email from her yahoo account that was of an official nature. Yes, there were plenty of emails to officials, but merely talking to a public office holder doesn't make the communication official and a matter of public record. In fact there were a number of emails of a political nature which would be flat out illegal to do over her official email system.
This is why, outside of partisan bloggers and ignorant commenters, no one anywhere is talking about Gov. Palin doing anything wrong.
Re:This Just In (Score:3, Interesting)
Even if that was true, you would need some evidence *first* and then get access (by getting a warrant) to the email account.
Let me put it another way: Suppose this "hacker" got illegal access to another 15 email accounts and found nothing there - he was a bit lucky with Palin. If he didn't find anything useful, there wouldn't be a story about his break-in... yet 15 people would have had their privacy invaded by an idiot with no right to do so.
So tell me, if events had happened this way (which would be in fact be the case), what should happen now?
Invading one's privacy just to see if there's anything interesting is illegal, and with good reason. And honestly, I hope Palin gets away with _everything_ that could be in those emails, so next time people who don't like a specific politician play fair.
Re:This Just In (Score:3, Interesting)
If it came down to it, I'd put in 10bux for his legal defense.
Why? Whether or not you approve of what he did, the most expensive lawyers in the world can't change the fact that he did something illegal.
Re:This Just In (Score:5, Interesting)
In the emails that the investigating commission DID get, there are exchanges between Palin and her subordinates discussing whether they can evade subpoenas by using Yahoo, and other exchanges reminding people to use the Yahoo account, not the official governors one.
IOW, the ENTIRE purpose of her office using the Yahoo account was to obstruct justice.
Re:This Just In (Score:3, Interesting)
Let me give you one of the subject headlines form her email account - CONFIDENTIAL: Ethics issues.
Sounds a whole lot like government-attached work to me.
Re:This Just In (Score:3, Interesting)
And yet Palin hasn't really stated anything about her real views or policy decisions on any of those issues.
She's obviously against abortion, and clearly wants to overturn RvW by installing additional conservative judges on the SCotUS. But when asked about her views, she gives mealy-mouthed replies about how she 'respects the opinion of others.' She is fundamentally a bullshitter.
With 'religion in schools,' the real issue is that she supports radical fundamentalist Dominionism, the far right goal of establishing the US as a Christian Theocracy (minus any real elements of Christianity) that will spread Jesus over the earth (minus the teaching of Jesus). This isn't about 'can we pray in school' or 'can we respect the 10 Commandments,' but a radical effort to install CBN-style televangelist religion as the primary purpose of government.
This is a BIG FUCKING ISSUE that has been ignored and Palin has done her best to keep quiet, but her tape in June praising her "witch hunter" pastor that she credited with bringing her to the goverership of Alaska, and her efforts to get people to pray for her "will of God" pipeline and "will of God" war while telling Charlie Gibson that she would "never presume to know the will of God" should shock the shit out of anyone with an IQ above 60. She would be one cancer/heart attack episode away from turning the US into something that even GW Bush didn't really support.
Firearm rights? That's a significant issue in the presidential election? There is no threat of guns being taken away. There is threat of the Federal government becoming something you might want to take up arms against. This might be an issue if Obama was crusading for gun control, but he isn't.
"Domestic issues" - Right, which of those were raised? Which have Palin talked about? She steered Alaska through vast oil wealth while demanding massive Federal dollars to build unnecessary projects while supporting secessionists. What qualifications does she have to talk about domestic issues like the size of government, fiscal conservatism, and state's rights when she has demonstrated no principles and nothing but self serving hypocrisy ever? She's a big government, big spending Republican who taxes others so she doesn't have to pay them. She has no rational stance on domestic issues.
"Foreign affairs" - All Palin knows is that she "can see Russia from her house." She lives on a dead lake killed by poor city planning (building big box retail that runs its road waste into the lake) and refused make any efforts to help rehabilitate it. She doesn't know anything about diplomacy. She suggested going to war with Russia despite not even having met the people involved. She wants to stay in Iraq until "Al Queda is defeated" according the the McCain website. How is that possibly going to happen, and how would we ever prove it was? And remember how Al Queda wasn't in Iraq before the war started?
Palin has no legitimate stance on any real issues. She revealed not even knowing what Freddie Mae does. We don't need a bullshitter figurehead, we need someone who can present a stance on issues they can back up with reason and effectively put in place as a workable solution, regardless of whether they are more conservative or more liberal.
Palin isn't that, she's just a bullshitter who want to force her religion on America and make wildly bad spending decisions with the nation's resources and people.
The Big Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac Attack [roughlydrafted.com]
Re:This Just In (Score:5, Interesting)
Good to know that you don't care about people doing illegal things just to TRY to get some dirt (even if they fail). So when we send covert operatives in to dumpster dive and hack into bank records to find out how Joe Biden is owned by the credit card companies (As one of my friends puts it, "You mean the Senator from MBNA?") Or when we dig to find out exactly HOW his house was paid for? Or perhaps dig into personal emails and such to find out exactly how linked Obama and Ayers are? Or Rezko? Will you put some cash in for those operatives as well?
You like this guy because he tried to "get" Sarah Palin. And as I have noted further down, didn't. If this would have been the other way around, you would have been bleating bloody murder about how horrible it was that a Republican would stoop to doing something illegal. Why you might even call it a Watergate! Perhaps this should be called YahooGate? After all, breaking in to email is to me the equivalent of breaking into a private office in a hotel.
Re:This Just In (Score:4, Interesting)
Actually you can. Clinton has done this, so has Bush and Cheney. The problem is that while any other person may be legally required to answer a subpoena, Certain political oriented people aren't necessarily those people.
The problem is when the move is politically motivated and extends past the collection of evidence. In Clinton's case, he defied subpoenas from congress and even got the Supreme Court to back him up. He refused to let his staff testify and so on. This also happened with the independent council and White Water where they wanted to subpoena white house attorneys to see if he discussed the mess with them. Of course the white house attorneys work for the government and lose a lot of the client privileges but it stuck here because the president needs the confidence that he can confide in advisers and counsel as a part of doing his job.
Palin has cooperated until this turned into a political witch hunt and then refused to do so. There is good reason to believe that the purpose went from investigating her actions and attempting to find a reason other then the stated one and I'm not sure what the employees could offer that would add much more then what has already been supplied. They haven't even determined that the reasons for the firings were shaky yet. Are we seriously supposed to believe that if the reasons he was fired was sound that just because there was a conflict where he refused to fire a trooper is reason not to fire him for the already sound reasons?
That's the problem I have. From what I can tell, the guy should have been fired anyways. Who cares what he thinks the motivation was, he deserved to be fired. When you fuck up, your not safe just because someone who might have been out to get you was there to catch it and do something they already wanted to do. But some how, Palin is Evil because she points this out and shows that the investigation has turned political. Either way, I support her just like I supported Clinton during the witch hunt on him. Now don't get me wrong, he did some bad things and got away with them, but they were looking under every rock he had ever cast a shadow on and that was wrong.
democratic representative Mike Kernell (Score:1, Interesting)
>>a Tennessee university college student and son of
>>state democratic representative Mike Kernell.
Nobody expect me seems to find this fact VERY interesting? The son of a (D) state representative? Now, you can all conjecture over Palin's need for having a personal email account, but this is very fishy...
Re:This Just In (Score:3, Interesting)
Reference? In what way does she support radical fundamentalist Dominionism, the far right goal of establishing the US as a Christian Theocracy?
Seriously, you give no reason to think that's a serious concern instead of left-wing alarmism about politics you disagree with.
Re:This Just In (Score:3, Interesting)
I call bull on this. Post your proof. It's easy to say they spend less but prove it by showing who voted for what and what pork projects were attached to each vote that they had to vote on, and who added each attachment and which party they belong to.
I think you will find just about everyone in Washington loves to spend the tax payer's money when they think they can get away with it, and when they think no one is looking deep into bills and stuff they just voted on.
Don't forget congress and the senate are so shady that most of them refuse to vote written but prefer a voice vote that is harder to prove who voted what.
Personally I think every single vote in Washington should have to be a written vote that is kept for at least 50 years. So we know exactly who voted for what. Also every thing that comes up for a vote should have every name at the top of who wrote the darn thing and who added what to it, all at the top clearly noted at, say 5-7 grade reading level. So that it is clear who did what and how they voted.
I think all laws/bills of the federal government and the states should have to be written at a 5-7 grade level so anyone in the country can read them and understand exactly what they mean. If a high school graduate can't understand the law as it is written, then it is a bad law. Since ignorance of the law is no excuse legally. For all of you out there saying well our high school students suck and are being graduated stupid. Well then stop graduating them and start flunking them out. Supposedly, according to one ad on TV we are like 27th in world for education at a high school level. We should be a lot higher than that in my opinion, at least in the top 10.