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Senate Hacker Blames Boss

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the pointing-fingers dept.

expriest writes "Manuel Miranda, the Republican Senate staffer under invesitgation for hacking into confidential Democratic files, has sued John Ashcroft to enjoin him against continuing the investigation. Miranda's argument consists of little more than fingerpointing. "Senators used all their official power and their influence over the press" says Miranda's complaint, "to disguise their own wrongdoing, by systematically accusing plaintiff of escalating degrees of criminality." "

2 of 103 comments (clear)

  1. Clarification... by Samrobb · · Score: 5, Informative
    Manuel Miranda, the Republican Senate staffer under invesitgation for hacking into confidential Democratic files...

    Don't you mean, "under investigation for reading documents posted on an open server?

    --
    "Great men are not always wise: neither do the aged understand judgement." Job 32:9
  2. On government-owned computers... by PatHMV · · Score: 3, Informative
    These files were on government-owned, taxpayer-funded computers. Were it not for the fact that Congress exempted itself from the Freedom of Information Act, these records would be suject to public review and inspection. Those memos discovered by Miranda which have been publicly released show:
    • clear efforts by parties to litigation to influence the results of that litigation by controlling when new judges were confirmed (p. 3)
    • confirmation hearings be scheduled around concerns over how a particular confirmation might affect an election in a particular state (South Carolina - p. 8-9)
    • racial motivations (to develop a strategy for "dealing with conservative Latino Circuit Court nominees" (p. 14)
    • and exactly how much Democrat Senators are focused on pleasing particular special interest organizations and constituencies
    So why shouldn't these memos have been in the public eye to begin with? If a whistle-blower had released documents from the White House showing the White House consulting with religious leaders or business leaders or pro-life organizations to discuss judicial appointments and how they would be handled, would anybody be asking for the whistle-blower to be prosecuted? No. The same people on the left who want to crucify Miranda here would be screaming about the public's right to know.

    And FYI, here is Miranda's attorneys very clear explanation of the law. Anybody on /. who wants to prosecute Miranda for what he did better be really, really careful about what computers he accesses without really explicit permission in the future.