Now we really know why John McCain doesn't e-mail; Sarah Palin gets hacked

Now we know the real reason Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain doesn't do e-mails. Who wants their stupid personal messages plastered all over the World Wide Web?  :-(

Overnight, his GOP vice presidential running mate Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin had her private e-mail account hacked into and a couple of her messages and family photographs published online.

In fact, if you sent a message to gov.sarah@yahoo.com recently, there's a chance it too will soon show up online. Although that account has now been deactivated.

Someone hacked into that private account Wednesday morning, found 84 unread messages (Gee, wonder why she hasn't been keeping the account up to date these last 17 days) and published two fairly innocuous ones online.

Quickly, someone changed the account's password and closed the account off. The McCain campaign denounced the break-in as an invasion of privacy, and the FBI and Secret Service, now responsible for her protection, are on the case.

The Ticket hacked into David Sarno's blog over at Web Scout and found he has the full story here. Mark Silva at the Swamp has a different version here that examines the political possibilities of using a private e-mail account for official state business.

-- Andrew Malcolm

Comments

[Otto]

Ms. Palin must have some really exciting minced moose recipes in her inbox.

[Eric Dondero]

Well, the Democrats just completely lost the Libertarian vote, as if they ever had it this year. Privacy is a central tenat for Libertarians. Now McCain/Palin will get eh libertarian swing vote just on sympathy.

To think that Left-leaning Hackers broke into the private email account of Sarah Palin is a complete travesty. And if it turns out the Hacker was an Obama supporter, that's the end of the election. McCain/Palin win in a landslide.

[Jerome]

I am surprised that a candidate for VP of the USA is using a Yahoo email address. The fact that she (and her advisers) did not see a potential (and inevitable) problem with that is unbelievable. This is the problem with electing people who have no knowledge of computers. I wonder how long she was planning to use this insecure way of communicating? Imagine if she had been elected president and was still using her Yahoo email address? No offense to Yahoo, but I sure even they would agree that their email service should not be used by her. This is complete ignorance that could have resulted in a security breech that would be disastrous.

[keep it up]

what people are doing to Palin is totally understandable.

she represents everything that is totally wrong about the culture wars; yes, she is being attacked, and RIGHTLY SO - SHE DESERVES THIS AND MUCH WORSE. She is being exposed for her lies and cover-ups. She is a vindictive, lying, stupid, person and it is scary to think she is as close as she is to a position of power in any country. I hate everything she represents and cheer those who “out” her deceptions.

[Tom]

Palin may not know what Bush doctrine/policy is but facts are showing that Mcain/palin are following Bush ideology and interesting they share many common things with radicalism views such as Al-quida Here is common things I have found so far They are claiming they are the one from God doing Gods tasks to clean up demons on earth.They have black &white view of world , they say either you are with us or against us.They do not like other religions and believe their religion is the only one.They have zero tolerance to opposition, enemy should be crushed to death no talk/diplomacy with enemy.They believe they are always right, never admit their mistakes and be sorry about their mistakes.They act fist then think after , they like preemptive actions without calculating outcomes.They are selfish and ignoring and rejects facts against them.They Believe in today's problems only and do not care about future crisis.They scare people to support them by claiming they are the only one can protect them.They do not believe in avoiding disaster by ignoring them first until becomes tool late to take action.They desperate in crisis and say you are on your own first, They are over confidence about their knowledge about issues and ignore other's thoughts. They like power very much and do whatever it takes to get it.They blame enemy for every problem.Wake up America, We had 8 years of failed Bush policy ,As old dogs never learn new things do not be fooled by MCain after 27 years in Washington and Voting 95% with Bush all of sudden wants to bring change. enough is enough.

[BJ]

With a program like YPOPs!, within a few minutes, hackers could have downloaded her entire YaHoo account to an off-line e-mail client such Outlook. If that's the case, they have it all, including deleted but not yet purged mail.

[James]

McCain doesn't email because he doesn't know how to use computers, period. He doesn't know about much of anything other than campaigning and currying favor from lobbyists.

[Jon T]

The Dems have a death wish. That much is now obvious.

[holly]

What is world coming to... anything goes to elect Obama?

How can they post family photos that just wrong.

I do not think it is just one creep, but any army of Obama creeps. From Movie stars, to singers, to the media

[David]

I would NOT be amazed if this ENTIRE thing isn't yet ANOTHER GOP stunt....Ahhhh, more pity points coming from a very condescending McCain camp.

Here is a statement of what McSame should be saying instead of pretending to NOW be in favor of government regulations.

"My friend you can trust me with the national economy eventhough my own wife does not TRUST me".

Are people in this country that CLUELESS?

[Henry F]

People should read the full story about the Palin hacking before falsely assuming Democrats had anything to do with it. The hacking into Palin's email account has nothing to do with politics -- it was a celebrity stunt. The hacker is a participant at 4chan.org's /b/ board. I quote from David Sarno's blog linked above: "The generally apolitical 4chan pranksters, who have now been widely profiled in the media, are known less for their social activism than for their propensity for pulling online stunts designed to evoke maximum anger, shock and disgust."

[Gina]

Excuse me, Los Angeles Times, but your sub-title implies that this situation is funny. It isn't. Internet hacking is a hugely offensive behavior which has resulted in untold millions of dollars of harm to our economy in the form of identity theft. I was going to vote for Obama until this travesty. We don't need more Watergate-type crimes in this country.

[Bob In Chicago]

Most of the country doesn't understand Chicago-style politics. This incident is EXACTLY representative of the type of politics that got Obama where he is today. He didn't defeat his former opponent in our city - he got her knocked clean off the ballot. You all have no idea what the United States is in for after he's elected. This will be elitism at its finest. ha ha ha

[chicagopearl]

Get used to this type of politics from Obama. This is how he got where he is today. Slash & burn, baby. Slash & burn.

[Emily]

How do you know it was a Democrat responsible, how do you know it wasn't a Republican trying to make the Democrats look guilty?
If you understood the hacker mindset, you would probably consider that it probably wasn't either one of these, that the hacker was just doing what he does, expose people that make themselves easy/ interesting targets.

[Martin]

What a crazy bunch you Americans are and how quick to confirm all your prejudices. This just might have been a grey-hat who was ethical enough not to publish anything damaging. Palin is just learning a lesson about public life - get back in your prams!

[kb]

It is really funny how the Republican commentors appear to believe (why?) that the hackers are Democrats. Uhh...they are people. Hackers. We do not know anything about them. Do you think they are registered to vote? Maybe you can find a way to cage their vote. Afterall, you Reps are so fair and balanced.

[jim j]

Ok some republican who is smart enough to play the Rove game hacked this thing and then blames it on the dems. Fits for me

[Laird Popkin]

While 'hacking' Palin's personal email is wrong, it seems like a fitting response to Palin's clearly illegal use of personal email to conduct official business in order to avoid public accountability.

That is:
- There are Sunshine Laws in Alaska requiring that all official business must be archived for public accountability (i.e. the communications eventually become part of the public record, can be searched in cases of lawsuits, etc.). See http://sunshinereview.org/index.php/Alaska_Public_Records_Act for details. This is long-standing law upheld by numerous court decisions that is extremely important in building public accountability and trust in open government, and is very well understood by anyone working for the government. It is, needless to say, illegal to evade archiving.
- All official business must be conducted through properly secured, government controlled servers, for obvious reasons.
- Palin and her staff specifically used public, insecure email services to conduct official business specifically in order to avoid Alaska's "Sunshine Laws" (documented in their emails). That is, they didn't accidentally break the Sunshine Laws, they knew about the laws and worked carefully to break them in order to avoid public accountability.

So while Palin would have a reasonable expectation of privacy in her use of Yahoo email, that seems minor compared to intentional evasion of public accountability. Beyond that, after intentionally avoiding use of the government secured email services and illegally using a public email system, it seems a bit absurd to then complain about getting 'hacked'.

[John Anthony]

With Sarah Palin, here's a scene I see getting played out if she had her way:

My friends daughter Amy, sits in the corner of her dark room, crying...crying....crying....crying.....
Amy's mother has tried to console her to no end giving her all the love and warmth she can. Her daughter just cries and cries. She's had therapy.....therapy to help her with her traumatic experience- Amy was brutally raped on her way to school last year to start her senior year of high school. But now....she cries and cries.

The father looks to the mother and asks, "What happened? It looked like she was making progress!"

"Well," the mother says, "Vice-President Palin said that Amy would not be allowed to have an abortion- that Amy would be required to have the rapists' baby."

I cannot believe that this would not horrify a majority of Republicans and Democrats!

Sarah Palin- right for America? Ask Amy.

[David]

Regarding McCaiin's non-use of e-mail, the reason is not ignorance but physical. The injuries he suffered in the Vietnamese torture camps make it difficult for him to use his finger for typing. Plus he can't raise his arms very high for the same reason, so the keyboard would need to be kept low. I think it's rude to mock someone for being physically challenged.

[Eric]

How in the world do YOU know the political affiliation of the hackers? don't assume you know anything more than her email account got hacked.

... idiot

[BA, MA]

Why aren't we hearing about Obama doing Coke, and writing about HIMSELF... or that the guy Sarah Palin wanted fired had been charged with abuse of power and had tazered a 10 year-old... All we hear is she wanted him fired. He used a TAZER ON A 10-YEAR OLD... is that OK? I mean, jeessss.. Get some perspective. Even if you don't like her upward mobility, or gender, even if you hate John McCain's handicap about using a keyboard, you can't seriously want abusive cops on the beat. You same twits would be screaming if you found out she ignored his agressions... Luckily you dopey latte sippers will be too busy cleaning my yard, making flap-jacks at IHOP, or too hung-over to get up and vote. Or it'll rain, and statistically, the less educated you are, the less likely you will vote in bad weather...
Get a grip people. e-mail (use or not) is NOT a national welfare, security, longevity of state issue... Where's the outcry about only being in the senate 6-months, NEVER writing any bills (but penning two books), and voting against tax payers 94 times... (that's 100% of the time for when he showed for work - which was under 50%)... I can't say one or the other is the optimum choice, but one has a history of working with people, and one own't let us find out about his... We flipped with Clinton's "inhale" and this guy you worship SNORTED... talk about judgement issues... Read Obama's OWN books, the press certainly won't tell you about his socialist upbringing... it's revenge of the liberal arts majors over in the press room these days.

[Dane]

Hey Eric-

Then they should vote for Obama if privacy is their bag (independents).... Our phones are tapped now.....

Glad to expose all on this PIG (pallin)....

[Frank]

Who said the Dems are behind this? It's being said by political hacks who are paid to post nonsense like this on discussion boards? Take their drivel with a grain of salt.