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Court Rules That Palin Must Save Yahoo Emails

quarterbuck writes "An Anchorage judge has ruled that Governor Sarah Palin must save her emails, as they were apparently used for state business. Last week a Tennessee man was arrested over hacking one of her Yahoo email accounts. The Washington Post also reports that Sarah Palin, her husband, and officials had set up email accounts known only to each other."

90 of 412 comments (clear)

  1. Taking one for the team. by Drakin020 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I guess you can say that 4chan kid took one for the team.

    Had he not gained access (I don't use the word hack because he didn't hack anything) to her email account, this decision may not have come to be.

    I guess you can say he took one for the team although that may not have been his original intentions.

    --
    The greatest revenge in life is massive success.
    1. Re:Taking one for the team. by Ethanol-fueled · · Score: 4, Informative

      Before he was arrested, he posted that he was afraid and he basically bailed out. That's why he didn't back up the e-mails.

      Now he's going to be seen the some cowering, harmless punk kid who half-wittedly exposed the blatant stupidity of Sarah Palin and the weaknesses of Yahoo and similar mail services.

    2. Re:Taking one for the team. by Drakin020 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      But do you think that if he had not gained access to her emails, this decision would have been made? Regardless if he backed out, this still resulted in her being forced to keep her yahoo emails. This could come back to bite her if she doesn't remove those emails first.

      --
      The greatest revenge in life is massive success.
    3. Re:Taking one for the team. by stinerman · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Second paragraph FTA, friend:

      The judge issued the orders at the request of Andree McLeod, an Anchorage activist whose pursuit of Palin's e-mails revealed that the governor did considerable state business from a Yahoo e-mail address -- an arrangement that avoided the safeguards and accountability of the state's secure e-mail system.

    4. Re:Taking one for the team. by zappepcs · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It's long been policy that government officials do not use non-government email and communications methods that circumvent the official logging of such communications. What she did was wrong, and in fact just as bad as the Whitehouse administration using non-whitehouse email services for official communications.

      Though the guy who accessed her emails might be in trouble, I'd like to see a jury refuse to convict him. He should be seen as a whistleblower and protected, not prosecuted.

      She hasn't even been elected to the Whitehouse yet and she has shown herself to be full of ineptitude and corruption. He is a hero in my book.

    5. Re:Taking one for the team. by Drakin020 · · Score: 2, Informative

      I don't know if the term "Whistle blower" would be a good term to use. Whistle blowers typically KNOW something is going on that is illegal, I'm guessing this kids intentions were to be a giant douche but happened to stumble upon something. It's not like he knew that she was using a personal account to handle government related issues.

      --
      The greatest revenge in life is massive success.
    6. Re:Taking one for the team. by Danse · · Score: 4, Informative

      But do you think that if he had not gained access to her emails, this decision would have been made? Regardless if he backed out, this still resulted in her being forced to keep her yahoo emails. This could come back to bite her if she doesn't remove those emails first.

      I believe there was already an effort underway by some Alaskans to gain access to the emails in the commercial accounts that Palin and her staff were using. The account that got hacked was actually her personal Yahoo account, not one of the ones normally used for official business.

      --
      It's not enough to bash in heads, you've got to bash in minds. - Captain Hammer
    7. Re:Taking one for the team. by thetoadwarrior · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Personal email accounts called gov.palin@yahoo.com and where the subjects clearly implied she was talking business?

      Sorry, I don't believe for a second they were personal.

    8. Re:Taking one for the team. by Danse · · Score: 4, Informative

      Personal email accounts called gov.palin@yahoo.com and where the subjects clearly implied she was talking business?

      Sorry, I don't believe for a second they were personal.

      gov.palin@yahoo.com was her personal use account. gov.sarah@yahoo.com was the one that she was using for official state business.

      --
      It's not enough to bash in heads, you've got to bash in minds. - Captain Hammer
    9. Re:Taking one for the team. by stinerman · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Certainly he is a reluctant hero.

    10. Re:Taking one for the team. by Majik+Sheff · · Score: 3, Insightful

      No, his intentions were to cause problems for the McCain/Palin campaign in the form of an epic trolling. This kid stopped when he realized that the 4chan party van would be at his door within hours.

      He messed up, plain and simple. Now the media is going to have a feeding frenzy because they FINALLY have something to try to stick on Governor Palin. If this had been Joe Biden doing this we would have never heard about it. In fact, reporters would be calling for the head of this 4channer on a pike while simultaneously scrambling to demonstrate that the e-mails were harmless/irrelevant/nonexistent.

      --
      Women are like electronics: you don't know how damaged they are until you try to turn them on.
    11. Re:Taking one for the team. by Jah-Wren+Ryel · · Score: 5, Interesting

      gov.palin@yahoo.com was her personal use account. gov.sarah@yahoo.com was the one that she was using for official state business.

      It doesn't really matter what she says the account was used for, it is the actual usage that counts.
      The list of subjects and correspondents from the so-called 'personal use account' that are posted on wikileaks is extremely incriminating.

      I'm sure that the worst punishment she will receive will be a slap on the wrist, after all the president and his staff have already done far worse wrt to email hiding and nothing happened to them. But what it does do is expose 'politics as usual' for her, all claims to maverick status are pretty much null and void now.

      --
      When information is power, privacy is freedom.
    12. Re:Taking one for the team. by Danse · · Score: 2, Funny

      My point was that it doesn't make a whole lot of difference if she was using the gov.palin@yahoo.com account for state business, because we already know she was using the other one for it. Whether it's either or both, she was circumventing the security and accountability of the state system.

      --
      It's not enough to bash in heads, you've got to bash in minds. - Captain Hammer
    13. Re:Taking one for the team. by thetoadwarrior · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It may or may not be but you're a private business that can do whatever you want.

      Sarah Palin on the other hand is an employee of the the citizens of the US (some people forget this) and as such she shouldn't be hiding things from us just as it's expected that any employee shouldn't be hiding official business from their employer.

      But it's not even about hiding things. Yahoo email isn't secure enough for someone who may have to be potentially passing around state security information.

      Her supporters are more likely to be the type that live in fear of terrorists so why shouldn't they be applauded that she's doing something to make it easier for terrorists to find out potential information to aid in attacking her state which isn't that far fetched seeing how it's one of our resource rich states meaning that attacking it and destroying, for instance, the oil infrastructure could have a great effect on the whole nation.

    14. Re:Taking one for the team. by gmack · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I don't know how this keeps getting repeated. The media has been much easier on Palin than they were on Obama or even his wife. Not so much an anti Obama thing either it was that they got lambasted for going off into the trivial.

      How long did they go on about "why doesn't he wear a flag pin?" Is your memory so short that you can't remember from two months ago?

      McCain crying that the media hates him doesn't make it so. If he didn't want a media frenzy then he shouldn't have picked a complete unknown as his VP.

    15. Re:Taking one for the team. by Zerth · · Score: 2, Informative

      It actually just shows the mind-set of the people from the left.

      Breaking the law = okay, as long as it is against the democratic party...

      Ok, either you need a s/left/right or a s/democratic/republican

      As it stands, your comment makes no sense...

    16. Re:Taking one for the team. by xstonedogx · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It doesn't take paranoia to conclude that someone breaking the law is going to take steps to conceal the fact.

    17. Re:Taking one for the team. by Mix+Master+Nixon · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I don't know how this keeps getting repeated. The media has been much easier on Palin than they were on Obama or even his wife. Not so much an anti Obama thing either it was that they got lambasted for going off into the trivial.

      How long did they go on about "why doesn't he wear a flag pin?" Is your memory so short that you can't remember from two months ago?

      McCain crying that the media hates him doesn't make it so. If he didn't want a media frenzy then he shouldn't have picked a complete unknown as his VP.

      If a political party's going to bash people for not wearing a stupid fucking flag pin, they better make goddamn sure their candidate wears one too. He didn't wear one at the convention, and he hasn't worn one in either debate. Why does John McCain hate America?

      --
      Oppressing an entire population is never cheap.
      --Jeckler (/. Beta IS GARBAGE!)
    18. Re:Taking one for the team. by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I agree that malice may not have been intended. However, that doesn't really matter. For people in positions like her's, using official email systems for official business is a nonoptional aspect of documentation and accountability. Failure to do so is, at best, incompetent neglect of duty, and at worst deliberate conspiracy to deceive the public. Maliciously doing this is worse than doing so nonmaliciously; but using official email for official business is a necessary part of the job. Not doing a necessary part of your job, even if it is totally without malice, is still bad.

      I'm a sysadmin, if I failed to run backups properly, and data were lost, they wouldn't have to prove that I maliciously failed to do so in order for me to deserve to get fired. Simply not doing so is bad enough. Same for her.

    19. Re:Taking one for the team. by Maxmin · · Score: 5, Interesting

      The account that got hacked was actually her personal Yahoo account, not one of the ones normally used for official business.

      Some interesting news on this front: because Palin deleted her Yahoo email accounts, she may be up for destruction of evidence charges. Felony if true, up to four years in prison.

      Shortly after the email account hack, Time revealed that the feds already had access to her Yahoo email accounts, as part of a federal investigation into Troopergate.

      One shoe left to drop, and it's the big one. Hopefully we'll hear something about it during October, though it's quite plausible that the current DOJ may drag their feet well past election day.

      --
      O lord, bless this thy holy hand grenade, that with it thou mayest blow thine enemies to tiny bits, in thy mercy.
    20. Re:Taking one for the team. by Jah-Wren+Ryel · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It doesn't change the fact that it isn't, wasn't, and probably not even intended to be a way to skate around the "system."

      If it came to light that Palin and her staff discussed avoiding archival as one of the benefits of using a non-government email system, would that change your opinion of the facts?

      --
      When information is power, privacy is freedom.
    21. Re:Taking one for the team. by KGIII · · Score: 2, Insightful

      We'd like to think so but I don't think that's true. I'm not positive but, having read the articles, this is why it is being considered in the Alaska courts and not in the Federal courts.

      Don't take this as support for Palin, I personally don't think she's fit to run a day care, never mind a country.

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
    22. Re:Taking one for the team. by iminplaya · · Score: 2, Funny

      She happens to be an employee of the people of Alaska....If she doesn't like that, she can go work somewhere else.

      Washington D.C. maybe?

      --
      What?
    23. Re:Taking one for the team. by fbjon · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It's not a state-provided service, therefore she must either not use it for official business, or take care to preserve all email herself.

      --
      True confidence comes not from realising you are as good as your peers, but that your peers are as bad as you are.
    24. Re:Taking one for the team. by hrvatska · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Obama has been under intense media scrutiny for the last year. All of what you're bringing up was reported at various times. Do a search of the NY Times, I think you'll find that they reported on all of this previous to Obama being nominated.

      Sarah Palin shows up out of the blue, with a little over two months until the election, and you're surprised the press is all over her, her family, and anyone that knew her since childhood? If that level of scrutiny is too much for her then she should not have agreed to be on the Republican ticket. As Gail Collins said in an opinion piece, "Palin has been pressing the line that people don't really know 'the real Barack Obama,' and who could make the argument better than a woman who we've already known for almost six weeks? Really, she's like one of the family."

    25. Re:Taking one for the team. by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Indeed, users of public email services, or any other email services, do not generally have any obligation to preserve emails. The issue is that Governors(among others) have a legal duty to adhere to various standards for handling documents pertaining to official business, which generally means preservation, compliance with FOIA requests, etc.

      Among a governor's various duties is preservation of official records. If they fail to do that, there is a problem. If the behave in such a manner as would lead to their failing to do that, there is a problem. If they do so deliberately, there is a bigger problem.

    26. Re:Taking one for the team. by Miseph · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The big deal is that she is required by law, the very same law she has sworn to uphold as governor, to follow certain rules and regulations about how she conducts her business. Had she used her work e-mail, as it were, compliance would have been enforced server side and this would not be an issue, but she chose not to and then violated the rules. If she'd used Yahoo! and followed the rules there wouldn't be a problem (well, outside of Yahoo! mail being crap...), but she didn't follow them and now it IS a problem. She may choose whatever e-mail provider she wants, she MAY NOT choose to break the law.

      And before somebody comes along with "well it's just her personal e-mail address, she probably didn't even think to" as a defense of doing this... the account names pretty obviously indicate she created them AFTER becoming governor, so it's not like these are legacy addresses. It's also not as if somebody held a gun to her head and made her run for and accept the office of governor of Alaska, if she didn't want to comply with these laws, all she needed to do was not take on a job which required her to follow them.

      --
      Try not to take me more seriously than I take myself.
    27. Re:Taking one for the team. by ColdWetDog · · Score: 2, Funny

      Dah, comrade, our evil plan to take over America is almost complete! Mwahahaha!

      OK, it's yours.

      Now what, smartypants?

      --
      Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
    28. Re:Taking one for the team. by Maxmin · · Score: 5, Insightful

      None of this really means there was malice intended.

      Ignorance of the law is no excuse, especially when you hold the highest office in your state, sworn to uphold *all* the laws of the land.

      At the time that Palin was using her Yahoo accounts for govt business, she was also in the public record as knowing that activists were suing for access to her email.

      Using private email accounts for public business is illegal in Alaska. Rather than deny this, surely she should be a big lady and step up to admit ... but it doesn't matter. The judge will ensure that the emails will come forth, unless Yahoo says "oops! we lost that backup tape..." like the current White House did.

      --
      O lord, bless this thy holy hand grenade, that with it thou mayest blow thine enemies to tiny bits, in thy mercy.
    29. Re:Taking one for the team. by fishbowl · · Score: 2, Funny

      >"why doesn't he wear a flag pin?"

      I wouldn't stick a pin in the lapel of a $1600 Brooks Brothers suit either.

      --
      -fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
    30. Re:Taking one for the team. by fishbowl · · Score: 4, Informative

      >Did you know about Ayers?

      I knew about Ayers when he was pallin' around with Nancy Reagan, before the Reaganite Annenberg gave him $50 million. That was in the early 90s.

      I laughed a lot when his name came up, because I already know he had as many Republican connections as Democrat.

       

      --
      -fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
    31. Re:Taking one for the team. by Walkingshark · · Score: 5, Insightful

      This is exactly the point. Our system was created by the people who might be punished, so when they made it they never built in any real accountability. In a rational world, just using a private, personal account for state buisiness would be enough to get her fired. In the same way, the "I do not recall" defense has become a staple of culture, especially in politics, to the point where it is pretty clear that anyone with memory problems as bad as, say, Alberto Gonzalez, should be fired immidiately and prevented from ever working for the public again. Accountability must be restored or in the long term the negative feedback will build until we end up having to go to war with ourselves to clean out the corruption. Its fucked up, but thats how it is.

      --
      The world you experience is only a close approximation of reality.
    32. Re:Taking one for the team. by Walkingshark · · Score: 2, Informative

      Facts generally don't have much effect on someone who has outsourced their thinking to their tribal leader/shaman of choice.

      --
      The world you experience is only a close approximation of reality.
    33. Re:Taking one for the team. by Walkingshark · · Score: 3, Informative

      No, you are totally wrong. Your analogy is, frankly, total shit. When she is conducting buisiness relevant to her job, she is not some average citizen, she has obligations that come with her office to ensure that all official buisiness and communication is properly archived, which is why the taxpayers of Alaska fund an email system for her to use that has those archival functions built into it. You utterly fucking fail at being worth even the sum of your constituent organic molecules if you think it is ok for her to bypass the law. Without rule of law, there is only tyranny. Or maybe that is what you're after.

      --
      The world you experience is only a close approximation of reality.
    34. Re:Taking one for the team. by Walkingshark · · Score: 4, Informative

      Actually, they found email related to official buisiness on her yahoo account. Sorry, I know I know, reality has a well known liberal bias.

      --
      The world you experience is only a close approximation of reality.
    35. Re:Taking one for the team. by Danse · · Score: 2, Insightful

      This court ruling is so late they can't expect the emails to still exist!

      I know allot of people who delete email as it's read to prevent this type of privacy violation.

      It's not a privacy violation when it's part of your job. Her emails dealing with state business are part of the public record and, with certain exceptions, the public is allowed to have access to them. If she believes that those emails are exempt, then she can make that claim. A judge will make the final determination. She doesn't get to decide unilaterally what to make available.

      --
      It's not enough to bash in heads, you've got to bash in minds. - Captain Hammer
    36. Re:Taking one for the team. by rtb61 · · Score: 2, Interesting
      In this context where there clearly was a premeditated and planned intent to avoid the legal requirements of maintaining records of government correspondence. Their intent was to arrange a method of communications, that they could hide from the public, clearly their intent was criminal, as such the full weight of the law should be measured out, other wise they make a mockery of their own laws.

      Underlying that is the enormous ego of creating your own personal governor for life email address on public web mail servers, really childish. In fact the whole episodes smacks of juvenile plots to deceive and hide the mischief that they clearly did intend. So in this case, it is actually worse than just deleting records, which as it turns out they have been deleted but, also it shows intent to create a illegal method of conducting government correspondence. Whilst the method was a rather simple and amateurish, it speaks largely of their incompetence and, does alter the nature of their criminal intent.

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
    37. Re:Taking one for the team. by uberjack · · Score: 2, Funny

      I could've sworn it was milfalicious@yahoo.com - are your sources accurate?

    38. Re:Taking one for the team. by devman · · Score: 3, Insightful

      "Certainly he is a reluctant hero."

      It actually just shows the mind-set of the people from the left.

      Breaking the law = okay, as long as it is against the democratic party...which is scary if that same idea is applied to more situations..

      I prefer to think of it as:

      Someone violate government officials privacy. Outrageous.

      Government violating your privacy. Patriot Act.

    39. Re:Taking one for the team. by 2short · · Score: 3, Funny

      "she is an ordinary citizen as well as a public office holder"

      Yes, and if the emails pertain only to her acting as an "ordinary citizen", she doesn't have to keep them. If the emails pertain to official government business, which some of them clearly do, she is required by law to keep them.

      The normal procedure would be to use her state-provided email for all official business, and something else for personal stuff. This keeps everything nicely segregated. The fact she has not done this could mean that she is intentionally evading the law, or that she is an idiot; but one should not jump to conclusions and neglect the possibility of both.

    40. Re:Taking one for the team. by innocent_white_lamb · · Score: 2, Funny

      I can: John Smith, Mary Smith and James Johnson. (Should be at least 200,000 of each of those.)

      --
      If you're a zombie and you know it, bite your friend!
  2. Oh right by commodoresloat · · Score: 2, Insightful

    That will put an end to hearing about her in the media I'm sure...

  3. Gmail by Bicx · · Score: 5, Funny

    She should just go with Gmail. Google will save her information whether she likes it or not.

  4. Re:Like hell she will... by commodoresloat · · Score: 5, Informative

    Or she'll just claim the emails say the exact opposite of what they actually say, just like she did with the troopergate report.

  5. Taking bets by Drakin020 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    What do you want to bet she went ahead and cleared out any potentially incriminating emails?

    I wonder if Yahoo would be able to retrieve it or if they would even have to.

    --
    The greatest revenge in life is massive success.
  6. Re:Like hell she will... by Azarael · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Until Yahoo gets subpoenaed to pull the email off of the back ups that they haven't deleted yet. Anyway, you could make a strong argument that given the circumstances, deleting the email would be considered destruction of evidence, which a US court _could_ hit you for.

  7. Re:Does that inbred hick even know how? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    This is the last chance for America to prove it's not totally made up of braindead, religious, nutbag trailer trash. If the GOP steals this one, too..I'm moving to Canada.

  8. It's not Flamebait if it's TRUE. Mod up parent. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I take it the neocons and confused Republicans are out in full force modding today.

    Mccain can't even check e-mail, and she used a fucking Yahoo account to do official business.

    I wouldn't even do my personal business over Yahoo.

    1. Re:It's not Flamebait if it's TRUE. Mod up parent. by GaryPatterson · · Score: 2, Insightful

      McCain ... cannot check email because he was tortured as a POW and does not have full mobility of his arms and is unable to use a computer.

      I understood that he's unable to lift his arms above his head, but has reasonable mobility below that. He can certainly write in a notebook, as we saw in the recent debate.

      Given that, it seems more likely that the reason he can't use a computer is more in line with his age and that "old dog, new tricks" thing.

      I don't think this matters at all though. Plenty of people don't care to use computers, and while that's odd to us, there's nothing wrong with it.

  9. Sooper secret email address !!! omgroflcopter!!1 by gandhi_2 · · Score: 3, Funny
    She set up email addresses known only to her husband? How heinous!

    The super-secret one that got haxored? gov.palin@yahoo.com

    Will the right-wing treachery know no bounds?

  10. Saving the emails is irrelevant by GISGEOLOGYGEEK · · Score: 5, Funny

    Why would Palin care to delete any emails, or even try to hide them?

    Palin is a young earth creationist. She has no understanding of Evidence.

    --
    George Bush + Linux = "I will not let information get in the way of the fight against Windows"
    1. Re:Saving the emails is irrelevant by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Those emails were put there by GOP to test our faith.

    2. Re:Saving the emails is irrelevant by philspear · · Score: 3, Funny

      As a young earth creationist, I'm offended and also confused by all those words.

  11. Re:Sooper secret email address !!! omgroflcopter!! by cliffski · · Score: 4, Insightful

    why is a government employee sending emails on govt business through a free email account?
    Why are taxpayers paying for the states computer infrastructure if she isn't using it?
    Of course something dodgy is going on.

    --
    DRM-free indie games for the PC and Mac: Positech Games
  12. Re:Wait, she had private email... by stinerman · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Good sir Ken,

    The problem is that she used the personal email for official correspondence, which is not all that legal.

    The personal account is required for campaign and private correspondence.

    HTH

  13. great by nomadic · · Score: 5, Funny

    Now can the Court issue an injunction barring her from using that ridiculously fake and obnoxious accent?

    1. Re:great by commodoresloat · · Score: 5, Funny

      Oh you betcha they can!

  14. Re:Sooper secret email address !!! omgroflcopter!! by Derling+Whirvish · · Score: 4, Interesting

    why is a government employee sending emails on govt business through a free email account?

    Because it's illegal to send campaign messages, partisan political messages, or e-mails dealing with RNC activities through a government account.

  15. Re:Sooper secret email address !!! omgroflcopter!! by Danse · · Score: 5, Insightful

    They've already seen boxes of emails from her aides to her Yahoo account. In fact, all but one email was sent to her gov.sarah@Yahoo.com account. That's the account she used for state business. It's not the account that got hacked.

    --
    It's not enough to bash in heads, you've got to bash in minds. - Captain Hammer
  16. Re:Does that inbred hick even know how? by CRCulver · · Score: 5, Funny

    If the GOP steals this one, too..I'm moving to Canada.

    Why do you hate freedom?

  17. Heard that before. by markdowling · · Score: 3, Insightful

    In 2000, 2004...

    www.cic.gc.ca

    Go on, I dare you.

  18. yeah by someone1234 · · Score: 2, Informative

    Emphasis is on NON-WORK
    Apparently she used the yahoo box for work too.
    I wasn't sure about this earlier, but the court must be able to tell apart work from private mail.

    --
    Patents Drive Free Software as Hurricanes Drive Construction Industry
  19. Re:Privacy by Danse · · Score: 5, Informative

    Not that I'm for the ditz, but isn't everyone entitled to their privacy? Even online.

    As in, being free to delete whatever non-work emails come to you.

    The problem is that she was using a commercial account for state business, which circumvents the security and accountability of using official state email services. She essentially made state business subject to Yahoo's terms of service rather than the laws of Alaska. Her official email is supposed to be public record, but the state can't access or archive her commercial account.

    --
    It's not enough to bash in heads, you've got to bash in minds. - Captain Hammer
  20. More reasons Palin isn't ready for VP... by EtherealFlaim · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Not only was she stupid enough to have her yahoo account password resettable by an outsider, she was stupid enough to conduct state business on this and other non-state-secured e-mail accounts.

    I'm sorry, but anyone who doesn't realize that in order to be safe it ALWAYS important to assume that your emails are immediately and fully in the hands of your worst enemies is hopelessly naive. Besides the sketchily legal issue of conducting state business over unsecure email, she also copied her husband on some of it.

    Seriously Palin? Talk about it over the dinner table. Sending the email to your hubbie sends it over unsecure servers in the internet proper where they could be read in transit by any number of unruly or dangerous individuals. And that's assuming that she was sending it from a state-secured email on state-secured servers, which she obviously didn't at least some of the time.

    The scary part now is that if she were to pull the same stuff in the whitehouse, there would be terrorists and spies trying to get ahold of national secrets, not just the inner workings of a state government. And I think we can all agree that the resources they have at their disposal are frightening.

    I'm much happier with her gambling with Alaskan politics than National Security.

    1. Re:More reasons Palin isn't ready for VP... by phanboy_iv · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Unfortunately, I suspect that the vast majority of Americans on the internet are indeed this naive, Palin is just a highly visible example. Sad, but true.

    2. Re:More reasons Palin isn't ready for VP... by Doctor_Jest · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Do you really think the majority of americans can see past the other side's sugar-coated lies either? Dare I say it, the lesser of two evils is NEITHER candidate. Biden's a plagiarist, a career liar, and the biggest moron from the tiniest state... Palin's a moron from Alaska... Obama's a huckster with ties to the very problem we're in now (google is your friend), and McCain is a dumbass.

      If either candidate wins, WE ALL LOSE. It's that goddamned simple... but leave it to the apologists to somehow paint Obama as actually GOOD for something. The same holds true for the other side of the aisle.

      If you believe that Obama's good for this country, you're as stupid as the people who believe McCain's good for this country.

      --
      It's the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man.
    3. Re:More reasons Palin isn't ready for VP... by Creepy+Crawler · · Score: 2, Funny

      It's just like the tag-line for that bad movie- Alien vs. Predator.

      Whoever wins, we lose.

      --
  21. Oh my by FornaxChemica · · Score: 2, Funny

    Sarah Palin, her husband, and officials had set up email accounts known only to each other.

    sarah_for_vp@hotmail.com

  22. Re:Why is this bad? by dkleinsc · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Shouldn't secret communications always be an option?

    No, it shouldn't be. Not when a public official is acting in their official capacity. If it's not classified enough so that Yahoo mail wouldn't be a security breach, it's not so classified that the public shouldn't know about it.

    And no, I don't buy into the theory that advisers give better advice if the know that the public won't know what they say.

    --
    I am officially gone from /. Long live http://www.soylentnews.com/
  23. Re:Wait, she had private email... by thetoadwarrior · · Score: 3, Informative

    Husband children and close aides.

    Selective reading clearly shows someone's bias...or lack of comprehension. ;)

  24. I wonder if... by Brad1138 · · Score: 4, Funny

    that's what McCain meant by "Fellow Prisoners"?

    --
    If you could reason with religious people, there would be no religious people
  25. Re:Why is this bad? by thetoadwarrior · · Score: 4, Funny

    Gee golly, that stuff about Guantanamo Bay just didn't need to be known for us honest simple god loving folk. Gosh darnit learning about water boarding has put our country at risk!

    Hopefully we'll get good old secret police to operate on their own terms and put this here country back in shape.

  26. Re:Sooper secret email address !!! omgroflcopter!! by Jah-Wren+Ryel · · Score: 2, Informative

    Can you please show us a specific e-mail that proves she was conducting government business via a free email service?

    Seriously, there are plenty of legitimate criticisms to level at this woman, and this is not one of them. There is no proof.

    While there is no proof per se, there is extremely incriminating evidence already available thanks to the so-called 'punk' who is under indictment.
    Here is a summary of subject lines and correspondents from said 'personal' account as reported on wikileaks.
    Some people have tried to argue that these are not incriminating, some people see pink elephants too.

    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.
  27. Re:Does that inbred hick even know how? by Jorophose · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Um, yeah, about that. Do you mind coming now and voting against our idiots in charge? Or at least helping us mince them to minority? (I like the way that turns out; government oversteps, smacked into elections) ... because if Harper wins a majority I'm moving to the US...

  28. Good for Goose and Gander by moteyalpha · · Score: 2, Interesting

    GGG://hoist.by.ones.own.petard.gov
    There was an article here on a bad search warrant that led to a criminal. So it seems, that no matter how badly the process is flawed, the ends justify the means and I think it is appropriate that if every single thing I do is scrutinized in or out of context, then the same should be true for the politicians who are more likely to do a great deal of damage, simply because they control many more resources, that are supposedly owned by everybody.

  29. Re:Palin by LSD-OBS · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Thanks, you're on the same brainless and reactionary wavelength as the crazy idiots on the other side screaming "Kill him!" and "Terrorist!" whenever Obama is mentioned.

    --
    Today's weirdness is tomorrow's reason why. -- Hunter S. Thompson
  30. Re:Wait, she had private email... by gmack · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Except if I do this as a business owner I pay the price in lost profits or efficiency. If I do this as a government official then the cost gets passed on to the taxpayers.

    This sort of thing needs to be punished wherever it's found and "everyone does it" is just not an excuse.

  31. freedom of information act by Benjamin_Wright · · Score: 2, Insightful

    A principle of the Information Age: Government is wise to organize itself and its records so it can swiftly and efficiently respond to freedom-of-information-act, open records and similar requests. Resistance to such requests is wasteful and makes government look out-of-touch. Hence, a government agency is prudent to tell employees (like governors) to send all business-related messages (e-mail, text and otherwise) through the agency's central IT system so they can be archived. --Ben

    --
    Benjamin Wright, Dallas, Texas, benjaminwright.us
  32. Re:Count me off your team by TheRaven64 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    she has a right to privacy

    Sarah Palin the private individual has a right to privacy. Sarah Palin the Governor of Alaska has a responsibility to openness and transparency. I Sarah Palin the Governor of Alaska has been pretending to be Sarah Palin the private individual in order to escape this responsibility, then there is a problem.

    --
    I am TheRaven on Soylent News
  33. Re:Wait, she had private email... by EastCoastSurfer · · Score: 2, Insightful

    This sort of thing needs to be punished wherever it's found and "everyone does it" is just not an excuse.

    I'm with you here. Lets start with a full investigation into Obama and his various real estate dealings with Resco. Next we can take a look at Clinton and the crooks he pardoned his last day in office. Bush has plenty of his own dealings we can investigate further also.

  34. Re:Count me off your team by fm6 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Your argument is circular: because the invasion of Palin's privacy revealed wrongdoing, there's no invasion of privacy. But the hacker had no way of knowing what he would find. He just broke in on a fishing expedition. That is what makes it an invasion of privacy.

    Using your own logic, I have every right to hack into your private files if I think I might find evidence of wrongdoing. Doesn't that wrongdoing negate your right to privacy?

  35. Am I the only one that sees the real problem here? by DustoneGT · · Score: 2, Insightful

    All the NSA/FBI/CIA/ABC SOUP need to do to access our personal data is get some punk kid to hack our accounts. They don't get in trouble themselves, but get to use all of the evidence in court.

    Illegally obtained evidence, no matter who does the obtaining, should be banned from the courts. If not, we might as well kiss our 4th Amendment goodbye.

    But, as usual, we are almost all blinded by Republican vs Democrat politics so badly that we can scarcely see the threat to our freedoms a foot in front of our faces.

  36. Were there any damages? by Kreplock · · Score: 2, Insightful

    'cuz, unless she was hatching a plot or clearly trying to hide something, I can't bring myself to care. And that's Bad, too. The nasty, nonstop personal attacks on her ever since she was announced as McCain's running mate have numbed me to it all. After the first mischaracterizations and outright lies instantly grew legs and everyone got slap-happy with her record I'm all out of patience with it. Now real stuff comes along and I'm spent unless it's truly nefarious. I'll assume she was a bit lazy about her multiple e-mail accounts like 99% of all other non-geeks until something nasty is found and sustained through public scrutiny.

  37. Re:Count me off your team by fbjon · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The "hacker" invaded her privacy, but found wrongdoing. He wasn't right, and she wasn't right. It's not either-or.

    --
    True confidence comes not from realising you are as good as your peers, but that your peers are as bad as you are.
  38. Re:Wait, she had private email... by GaryPatterson · · Score: 2, Interesting

    That would be an excellent start. Get it *all* out - Reagan, Bush Sr, Clinton, Bush Jr, Al Gore, Cheney, Rumsfeld... expose *all* the lies and secrets. Prosecute the guilty and ensure that their crimes are recorded accurately into history.

    If that actually happened, US politics would be infinitely better for it. Even better if transparency was rigorously enforced from now on, through exposing issues like this email thing.

  39. Re:Count me off your team by Gideon+Fubar · · Score: 2, Informative

    This is true iff the 'hacker' was the only person to do this. That is.. if the email accounts were accessed in a legal way (via court order to Yahoo, for example) then this evidence is freely admissible.

    Since they were actually requested by the Alaskan courts, the point is now moot. So to speak.

    --
    http://www.xkcd.com/354/
  40. The GOP has been testing my faith... by gillbates · · Score: 3, Funny

    And my patience for the last 8 years. I don't need any emails for that.

    --
    The society for a thought-free internet welcomes you.
  41. Re:Sooper secret email address !!! omgroflcopter!! by aug24 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I'll make the quote more obvious for you

    "...emails on **************govt************** business..."

    Got it now?

    Justin.

    --
    You're only jealous cos the little penguins are talking to me.
  42. Re:Sooper secret email address !!! omgroflcopter!! by freedom_india · · Score: 2, Insightful

    She wasn't trading...

    The idiot who hacked her account should have "implanted" the evidence, and instead of publicizing his exploit, he should have 'accidentally' forwarded the same from her account to PBS or Newyorker.
    Dumb ass.
    He shd have acted the same way Rove quashed the records of Bush as Air National Guard leakage.
    Silent and deadly.

    --
    "Doing what i can, with what i have." ~ Burt Gummer
  43. Re:Sooper secret email address !!! omgroflcopter!! by Danse · · Score: 2, Insightful

    why is a government employee sending emails on govt business through a free email account?

    Because it's illegal to send campaign messages, partisan political messages, or e-mails dealing with RNC activities through a government account.

    Those things aren't government business.

    --
    It's not enough to bash in heads, you've got to bash in minds. - Captain Hammer