Hackers broke into Sarah Palin's Yahoo account and posted screenshots and personal emails, reports the AP. Rick Davis, campaign manager for the McCain-Palin campaign, issued a statement about the hack: "This is a shocking invasion of the Governor's privacy and a violation of law. The matter has been turned over to the appropriate authorities and we hope that anyone in possession of these emails will destroy them. We will have no further comment."
And for real: why don't we hear more often about hackers being punished? Like TrainReq, who broke into Miley Cyrus's phone - he's still happily blogging away.
So what are the rules? LawForKids.org has a summary:
E-mail is typically not secured at all and is transmitted in plain computer text over the Internet. In this case, it is most likely that someone would still need to 'hack' a computer system to gain this access, but it would be harder to charge the offender with something like theft, because the e-mail isn't secure when it is being sent through the public network. I mention this mostly so that we all remember that e-mail is totally unsecured and confidential information should never be sent through e-mail . . . If the operator of a computer hasn't taken care to password protect their computer systems and software, then they would have very little expectation of privacy in their information. And in this case there likely would be no punishment.
Wow. Is that true? Who wants to bet a loooot of email passwords get changed today?
Reader Comments ( Page 1 of 2)
1. Anonymous is not a group of hackers - it's a leaderless collective of like-minded individuals, from all walks of life.
http://www.enturbulation.org/press-media/faq
Anonymous at 11:55AM on Sep 18th 2008
2. Sounds like a Rovian tactic and simply a variation of one employed by him in the first political race he was associated with back in the 1970's. At that time he thrashed the office of the candidate whose campaign he managed and then claimed the Democratic rival candidate had done so, this while stealing valuable and sensitive campaign materials.
Smells like the same rat to me.
Tim at 8:14PM on Sep 17th 2008
3. People worry about red-light cameras catching them breaking the law - "oooh my privacy is being violated". Yet where is the outrage over the hacking of email. It's no different than if someone takes mail out of your mail box and reads it. THAT'S a federal offense!!! No one asks you if you locked your mailbox up tight.
It makes my skin crawl to think some pimple faced creep is crawling through my emails. Let's get a LAW NOW.
ANNEE at 9:21PM on Sep 17th 2008
4. Sounds like a Rovian tactic and simply a variation of one employed by him in the first political race he was associated with back in the 1970's. At that time he thrashed the office of the candidate whose campaign he managed and then claimed the Democratic rival candidate had done so, this while stealing valuable and sensitive campaign materials.
Smells like the same rat to me.
Since you probably got this off some Donkey website, it has no credibility. Not to mention the fact that it is just TOO STUPID for words.
Are you a creepy hacker?
ANNEE at 9:20PM on Sep 17th 2008
5. we dont have to answer subpoenas anymore either.
Louis IX KingofFrance at 1:19AM on Sep 18th 2008
6. 1) Using a Yahoo mail account for official government business transactions = FAIL.
2) Hacking into such an account to prove some sort of point = FAIL.
3) Sarah Palin displaying signs of cronyism...what else is new? All politicians do that. (>_
Office Unicorn at 7:44AM on Sep 18th 2008
7. Since you probably got this off some Donkey website, it has no credibility. Not to mention the fact that it is just TOO STUPID for words.
Are you a creepy hacker?
ANNEE
xxx
No, I'm not. And while you're kissing Bush'e ass, he and the republicans continue to enact legislation that makes it easier for them to tap your phones, read your mail, and horror of horrors, to read your e-mail. Tip of the day, those guys don't have pimples.
Oh, and Rove is evil. Simply evil. He's everything Lee Atwater wished he was evil enough to be. Read anyone of a thousand articles detailing the "pranks" Rove played from the early 70's up to the present. BTW, he ain't denying the charges.
Tim at 9:04AM on Sep 18th 2008
8. Tim - You must by Randy's twin brother. Democrat hackers break into Sarah Palin's E-mail account and, incredibly, you start blabbing about Karl Rove as if he's somehow responsible for this. Huh?
You can't stand Rove because he beat you guys twice. That frosts you. And you seem to inhabit a tiny little world of left wing spinmeisters.
No matter how low Democrats sink, you just can't keep yourself from muttering about Karl Rove. You remind me of the disheveled guy on the park bench with the open bottle of Thunderbird, yammering semi-coherently about nothing. Get a grip.
Dave at 10:09AM on Sep 18th 2008
9. Dave, the people who did this hacking are neither Democrats (though they are open to members of all political persuasions, and none) nor specifically hackers, though that's obviously one of their methods. My understanding is that they're a loosely organized (and they would deny even that level of organization) of, IMHO, jerks, who go around making mischief.
Of course, you're right that blaming it on Rove is equally nonsensical.
dr jay at 10:33AM on Sep 18th 2008
10. Thanks for your response Doc, but I'm dubious about the supposed non-partisan status of these hackers (if they're hacking into people's E-mails, they're "hackers" in my book.). I suppose these guys just randomly chose Sarah Palin to harass. Please.
Dave at 11:35AM on Sep 18th 2008
11. "This is a shocking invasion of the Governor's privacy and a violation of law.
______
Shocking invasion of privacy? The government can do it, but if you're in the government, and it's done to you, it's what now?
Funny how these new laws are like that. It's a shocking invasion in one case. ALL the other cases of government doing it is okely dokely...
ex-christian at 12:33PM on Sep 18th 2008
12. Government officials have experienced hacking of security information, before in the states and when traveling abroad. My email was violated once putting a young family member at risk. America's secuity is very important and checking on offenders legally should be tolerated. You don't have anything to hide do you? There are a lot of evil minded people out there who need to be watched.
L. Schwartz at 11:53AM on Sep 19th 2008
13. And to the ex-Christian, God is still watching whether you acknowledge it or not. You will still reap the consequences of your choices. So if you're not for the security of America, don't whine if your security and freedoms are threatened.
Liz Schwartz at 11:52AM on Sep 19th 2008
14. Internet law is murky at best. The legality of this act will be
debated, and most likely will result in legislation. But, who knows?
I'm pretty sure that most anyone reading this would take it as an
invasion of privacy if it happened to them. Some of us even get upset
if someone is caught looking over our shoulders as we type. Right?
Someone's in trouble:
This is from my hometown:
http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080918/NEWS02/80918081
And this from my "old hometown":
http://wjnoblog.com/2008/09/is-this-the-face-of-palins-hacker/
I'll post young Mr. Kernell's statement:
I read though the emails… ALL OF THEM… before I posted, and what
I concluded was anticlimactic, there was nothing there, nothing
incriminating, nothing that would derail her campaign as I had hoped,
all I saw was personal stuff, some clerical stuff from when she was
governor…. And pictures of her family.
I then started a topic on /b/, peeps asked for pics or gtfo and I
obliged, then it started to get big
Earlier it was just some prank to me, I really wanted to get
something incriminating which I was sure there would be, just like
all of you anon out there that you think there was some missed
opportunity of glory, well there WAS NOTHING, I read everything,
every little blackberry confirmation… all the pictures, and there
was nothing, and it finally set in, THIS internet was serious
business, yes I was behind a proxy, only one, if this shit ever got
to the FBI I was f—ed, I panicked, i still wanted the stuff out
there but I didn’t know how to rapid[share] all that stuff, so I
posted the pass on /b/, and then promptly deleted everything, and
unplugged my internet and just sat there in a comatose state.
^^^^^^^^
Wow.
Will this turn out to be a nail in Obama's coffin? It really sucks
that the hammer is in the hand of a Democrat, or more specifically
the son of a DEMOCRAT THAT'S CURRENTLY SITTING IN OFFICE. Way to go!
Another example of how the Democrats will lose another "unlosable"
election.
torquemada at 12:14PM on Sep 19th 2008
15. were McCain to pass prior to the election who do you think Sarah would chose as her Veep?
(a) Romney
(b) Huck
(c) Guliani
(d) all the above
(e) Mo Rocca
someone on a blog today suggested McCain not purchase any green bananas
charlie baker at 2:40AM on Sep 20th 2008