Comments on: Sarah Palin's email account hacked

By: Karen Booth

Karen Booth — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 01:51:33 +0000

Thankyou, Norm.
I would still argue that none of the CONTENTof her posted emails indicates any governmental malfeasance on her part. You can speculate all you want (from the email index) that she has acted inappropriately, but for now it’s just speculation. I’ll withhold judgement on her until I know more.

By: Norm!

Norm! — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 21:17:48 +0000

I previously cited Cryptome.org for the Palin hacked e-mails. The Bush Jr. Administration's practice of concealing government correspondence in private e-mail systems was widely reported last year. Check out this Wall Street Journal article or this Washington Post column.

By: Karen Booth

Karen Booth — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 20:14:39 +0000

Please cite your source or sources, Norm.

By: Norm!

Norm! — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 19:39:57 +0000

Hi Karen,
No, I didn’t blame victim. Rather I questioned her competence to secure sensitive information and her intentions for setting-up a private e-mail that clearly intended to represent her government authority.
I don’t support hacking and the people who hacked her account should be prosecuted, but the reality is that anything online is at risk and users are responsible to secure their own information. Anyone who has had to access a government information system is usually trained about security practices and official conduct — and a head of government should lead by example.
It appears Gov. Palin was apparently conducting government business with AK employees as “Gov.Palin” and “Gov.Sarah” (which is probably how hackers discovered her account). Subjects of her e-mails sent to official government e-mail addresses:
– “RE: Please approve” from Ruaro, Randall P (GOV),
– “FW: DPS Employee Draft” from Ruaro, Randall P (GOV)
– “Re: DPS Personnel and Budget Issues” from McAllister, William D (GOV)
– “Court of Appeals Nominations” from Ruaro, Randall P (GOV)
– “another records request” from Nizich, Michael A (GOV)
– “FW: CONFIDENTIAL Ethics Matter” from Nizich, Michael A (GOV)
– “RE: Request for Information and Documents” from Nizich, Michael A (GOV)
– “FW: Memorandum of Law” from Nizich, Michael A (GOV)
– “Draft letter to Governor Schwarzenegger / Container Tax” from Ruaro, Randall P (GOV),
– “RE: Using Royalty Oil to Lower the Cost of Fuel for Alaskans” from Nizich, Michael A (GOV);
– “Court of Appeals / Executive Director Parole Board / Boards and Commissions” from Ruaro, Randall P (GOV)
Similarly, the Bush Jr. Administration used a GOP e-mail system to circumvent FOIA in the Department of Justice scandal.

By: Karen Booth

Karen Booth — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 18:02:37 +0000

Norm, your argument is a classic case of “blame the victim.” The hacker – who may or may not be the son of a Democrat congressman – broke federal law and compromised the Palin’s security by posting the information he/she did. The Palin family has been violated by this. And you assert that she’s to blame and then also try to score political ponts by it. Please!
I read on another blog (sorry, but can’t remember which one) that Alaska has some sort of regulations (perhaps, also nationwide?) that politicians MAY not send personal email via official channels. They are required to use personal email for that. And from what’s been released so far, that’s what it was. There was NO “sensitive information.” If the slime brigade had found anything newsworthy, it would be out there.