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Palin Email Hacker Found
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.
If you have followed the story, he didn't guess the password. He used publicly available information to fool Yahoo's password recovery tool to give it up.
As simple as it may sound, it is a bit more involved than 'guessing' a password.
Why is Sarah Palin using a private account when she is Governor?
Because there are laws in place that say what you can and cannot do with government services and equipment. What you do not seem to get is she was abiding by these laws. Thats why she has 2 (or more) email accounts. The hacker ought to be prosecuted, he even said he did it with malicious intent
I really wanted to get something incriminating which I was sure there would be
but guess what? he found squat and diddly.
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
Bad Panda! No Bamboo for you! In matters of importance ACs will not be responded to. Want to say something critical,OK
Calling this guy a hacker is a wee bit of an overstatement. Here is a video reconstruction of what he did: http://www.irongeek.com/i.php?page=videos/how-sarah-palin-email-got-hacked Not really a "Hack", just using the password recovery process.
Irongeek's Hacking Videos / Security Videos and Articles
Email is a lot easier to record? There's always been a divide between the written and spoken word, from business deals (oral contract is only binding up to $500 in Florida), to courtroom hearings (hearsay, your word vs. mine, etc). You can request copies of government memos; email is electronic mail; it stands to reason that any official written communication should be kept. Lots of meetings are held behind closed doors because there's no written record for public consumption.
There's lots of other cases where emails are available for public consumption; for instance emails back to 1996 for the Seattle metro service are all available for review. On the flip side you have a matter of public record, historical records for data mining, and more. Imagine how boring history would have been if we didn't have access to Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln's personal letters today?
Governors aren't required to record their telephone conversations, although I know Nixon was a fan of doing so - which is partially what got him in trouble in the first place. I'm not sure what the outcome was in court about whether those are considered personal or not. I know in most states both parties have to be aware of the conversation being recorded. In Virginia(?) only one party is required to know that the conversation is being recorded.
moox. for a new generation.
Forum account? 4chan doesn't have 'accounts' to be compromised. And tripcodes don't give any user information, just verifiers the username. The only identifiable info on 4chan would be the IP.
He put a name he uses elsewhere in the name field. That name was then connected to an email account.
Why is Sarah Palin using a private account when she is Governor?
Because there are laws in place that say what you can and cannot do with government services and equipment. What you do not seem to get is she was abiding by these laws. Thats why she has 2 (or more) email accounts. The hacker ought to be prosecuted, he even said he did it with malicious intent
That's not why she uses personal e-mail accounts for state business.
Interviews show that Ms. Palin runs an administration that puts a premium on loyalty and secrecy. The governor and her top officials sometimes use personal e-mail accounts for state business; dozens of e-mail messages obtained by The New York Times show that her staff members studied whether that could allow them to circumvent subpoenas seeking public records.
Like the GOP staff that used an exploit to read their oppositions email? Hmm, there were no legal consequences in that case. Maybe there should have been? Report Finds Republican Aides Spied On Democrats http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F00E0D7103FF936A35750C0A9629C8B63
This is the OP but apparently the FBI served a search warrant at Mr. Kernell's residence at UT. Link. I hope the FBI had more evidence to go on than some posting on /b/.
Most of the newsbits explicitly mention that "Governor Palin has come under media criticism in the past week for using private email accounts to avoid Alaskan freedom of information laws." Neither of you seem to have even read the original story?!
Often wrong but never in doubt.
I am Jack9.
Everyone knows me.
Trashing the PC is absurdly paranoid. This would be more than sufficient:
1) Live in a large-ish city. Go to a popular cafe with free wifi and find a corner where nobody can see your screen.
2) Reset your MAC address to something random and connect. Bonus points for hacking into a WEP network accessible from the cafe.
3) Tunnel through Tor and do exactly what you need to do and nothing else.
4) Disconnect, reset your MAC. Stay a little while, finish your drink, and leave.
Even that's a little overly careful. Do that and there's no conceivable way to be caught. In this age of ubiquitous wireless networks, anyone who hacks from their own account richly deserves to be caught.
Actually she was using her yahoo email accounts to conduct state business.
The best education consists in immunizing people against systematic attempts at education. - Paul Feyerabend
What I've seen here is that Palin properly followed the demarcation line between "official business" which is done via official state systems, and "private communications" which may NOT be done via state systems.
Then you've seen only what you've wanted to see. Palin thoughout her time in office has consistently blurred the official with the personal.
For starters, if she wished to keep the line clearly marked, she should have chosen an email handle other than gov.sarah.
Then there's this from the New York Times:
While Ms. Palin took office promising a more open government, her administration has battled to keep information secret. Her inner circle discussed the benefit of using private e-mail addresses. An assistant told her it appeared that such e-mail messages sent to a private address on a "personal device" like a BlackBerry "would be confidential and not subject to subpoena."
Ms. Palin and aides use their private e-mail addresses for state business. A campaign spokesman said the governor copied e-mail messages to her state account "when there was significant state business."
On Feb. 7, Frank Bailey, a high-level aide, wrote to Ms. Palin's state e-mail address to discuss appointments. Another aide fired back: "Frank, this is not the governor's personal account."
Mr. Bailey responded: "Whoops~!"
Whoops, indeed. I wouldn't consider this a distraction from the issues, especially given the Bush Administration's record. I find it among the scariest aspects of her prospective election.
The Times article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/14/us/politics/14palin.html?pagewanted=all
Innovation makes enemies of all those who prospered under the old regime... -- Machiavelli
That's actually not true. If you take the time to look at the information posted on wikileaks, you'll notice a number of emails have titles such as "Draft letter to Governor Schwarzenegger / Container Tax", "Court of Appeals / Executive Director Parole Board / Boards and Commissions", "Re: DPS Personnel and Budget Issues", "Court of Appeals Nominations", "FW: CONFIDENTIAL Ethics Matter". Those definitely sound like official state business, although it's impossible to know now that the account has been deleted.
As for the lack of any sort of incriminating information, what does that prove? It's not an official email account. There's no requirement that the information is archived; if any of the emails did contain information that would provide evidence of wrongdoing, Palin can simply delete them at any time. That's the issue: Palin promised transparency in government, but she's done the opposite, and has made herself unaccountable for her actions as Governor.
For the complete list of emails, see: http://www.wikileaks.org/wiki/Sarah_Palin_Yahoo_inbox_2008i
Ever heard of Hans-Martin Tillack? His office was raided and his equipment seized by Belgian police because he had the audacity to protect a whistle-blower in a fraud case. He eventually got compensation, but as far as I'm aware he hasn't re-gained his possessions. I would bet money on the whistle-blower having been sacked by now. The whole sorry saga is here. In the mean time the accounts have not been signed off for the thirteenth year running (the Tories are reporting a fourteenth).
I hate it when we Europeans pretend to be so vastly superior to those ghastly Americans out of sheer ignorance.
p.s. I am a Europhile, I just don't think this kind of thing should be covered up out of misguided solidarity with the European Project.
All intents and purposes. Not intensive purposes.
But she didn't conduct any official business with the yahoo account! All that was in it were family pictures and emails to her friends.
Really? How do you know that?
Do these sound like personal emails to you?
Subject: Draft letter to Governor Schwarzenegger / Container Tax
From: Ruaro, Randall P (Deputy Chief of Staff)
Subject: FW: Motor Fuel Tax Suspension
From: Meghan Stapleton (Press Secretary)
Subject: RE: Using Royalty Oil to Lower the Cost of Fuel for Alaskans
From: Nizich, Michael A (Chief of Staff)
Subject: Court of Appeals / Executive Director Parole Board / Boards and Commissions
From: Ruaro, Randall P (Deputy Chief of Staff)
Subject: RE: Please approve
From: Ruaro, Randall P (Deputy Chief of Staff)
Subject: Rural Wireless Service
From: McBride, Rhonda (Rural Advisor)
Subject: FW: DPS Employee Draft
From: Ruaro, Randall P (Deputy Chief of Staff)
Subject: Re: DPS Personnel and Budget Issues
From: McAllister, William D (Communciations Director)
Subject: FW: DPS Personnel and Budget Issues
From: Ruaro, Randall P (Deputy Chief of Staff)
Subject: Court of Appeals Nominations
From: Ruaro, Randall P (Deputy Chief of Staff)
Subject: another records request
From: Nizich, Michael A (Chief of Staff)
Subject: RE: Scheduling - Week of 08.10.08
From: Mason, Janice L (Scheduling Assistant
Subject: FW: Capitalizing on coal reserves, Crow Tribe strikes deal for $7B
From: Nizich, Michael A (Chief of Staff)
Subject: Status report
From: Ruaro, Randall P (Deputy Chief of Staff)
Subject: FW: Special session press release
From: Nizich, Michael A (Chief of Staff)
Subject: Followup.
From: Colberg, Talis J (Alaska Attorney General)
Subject: FW: CONFIDENTIAL Ethics Matter
From: Nizich, Michael A (Chief of Staff)
When information is power, privacy is freedom.
Sorry, that's just not true.
Palin's Yahoo account contained emails with subject lines like "Court of Appeals / Executive Director Parole Board / Boards and Commissions", and "FW: DPS Personnel and Budget Issues", and "Draft letter to Governor Schwarzenegger / Container Tax". Check the wikileaks site, it's all laid out for anyone to see.
Palin's account does contain emails that relate to government business. Saying "there was no government business on her account" over, and over, and over, as people seem to be doing in this forum, doesn't change the facts. Although that seems to be a common tactic for their campaign these days: repeat the lie so many times that it starts to sound true, like Palin's "I told them thanks but no thanks" lie about the Bridge to Nowhere.
"But she didn't conduct any official business with the yahoo account! All that was in it were family pictures and emails to her friends. IMO, she did the correct thing by not using a govt.-paid for email account for personal communications."
This is incorrect. She specifically set up two Yahoo accounts, one for personal email (gov.sarah@yahoo.com) and another (gov.palin@yahoo.com). The latter was specifically set up because she could avoid Alaska's Sunshine Laws that require all government business to be archived and (with very narrow exceptions) available to the public. In the email archive is a discussion where she and her staff confirm that the use of the yahoo accounts hides their emails from court subpoena's, and she even reprimands one staffer for using her official email instead of the yahoo account.
So while Yahoo email accounts do have a legitimate expectation of privacy, I'd argue that Palin lost her claim to privacy when she engaged in illegal evasion of Alaska's Sunshine Laws.
Enable 3D printed prosthetics!
Heh.
The best education consists in immunizing people against systematic attempts at education. - Paul Feyerabend
>> And she's telling her staff to ignore subpoenas about whether she campaigned with state resources.
> Reference, please.
http://www.adn.com/palin/story/530493.html
"Alaska Attorney General Talis Colberg said the governor, who was not subpoenaed, declined to participate in the investigation and said Palin administration employees who have been subpoenaed would not appear."
Palin's staff is ignoring supoenas, but parent has misstated what the subpoenas are about. They pertain to "Troopergate," not campaign financing.
1. Don't post a message anywhere describing what you did
He is not right:
1. U.S. military service disproportionately attracts enlisted personnel and officerswho do not come from disadvantaged backgrounds. Previous HerÂitage Foundation research demonstrated that the quality of enlisted troops has increased since the start of the Iraq war. This report demonÂstrates that the same is true of the officer corps.
2. Members of the all-volunteer military are sigÂnificantly more likely to come from high-income neighborhoods than from low-income neighborhoods. Only 11 percent of enlisted recruits in 2007 came from the poorest one-fifth (quintile) of neighborhoods, while 25 perÂcent came from the wealthiest quintile. These trends are even more pronounced in the Army Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) proÂgram, in which 40 percent of enrollees come from the wealthiest neighborhoodsâ"a number that has increased substantially over the past four years.
3. American soldiers are more educated than their peers. A little more than 1 percent of enlisted perÂsonnel lack a high school degree, compared to 21 percent of men 18â"24 years old, and 95 percent of officer accessions have at least a bachelorâ(TM)s degree.
4. Contrary to conventional wisdom, minorities are not overrepresented in military service. Enlisted troops are somewhat more likely to be white or black than their non-military peers. Whites are proportionately represented in the officer corps, and blacks are overrepresented, but their rate of overrepresentation has declined each year from 2004 to 2007. New recruits are also disproportionately likely to come from the South, which is in line with the history of SouthÂern military tradition.
http://www.heritage.org/Research/NationalSecurity/cda08-05.cfm
Never answer an anonymous letter. - Yogi Berra
Louisiana uses Napoleonic law....things can get really strange down here legally sometimes due to that. Really different when you come from a common law state.
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
One of the e-mails was entitled: "Draft letter to Governor Schwartzenegger / Container Tax". Another was "Fw: veep talking pts". There's also an e-mail between Palin and Sean Parnell regarding Sean's campaign for Congress. Parnell is the Lt. Governor of Alaska.
Anonymous wasn't smart enough to download all the e-mails but what do you think was in that draft letter e-mail?! No one is accusing her of anything wrong only because there is ACTUAL proof because Anonymous didn't download the messages, and because it's slimy to use stolen info to attack your political foes. But if you asked her under oath, Palin would probably have to admit that she's using her personal e-mail for at least some work-related e-mails.
A NYC lawyer blogs. http://www.chuangblog.com/