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Palin, her emails, her hacker: No secrets
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by jstovall | September 20, 2008 at 06:33 pm
506 views | 29 Recommendations | 9 comments
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What is far more interesting -- and instructive -- are the stories underneath this non-story. There are three:
- Hacking with ease. It took virtually no technical expertise for the hacker to get into Palin's email account. The security question used to prevent unauthorized entry could easily be answered through a Google search or by just looking at a standard biography. Just about anyone with rudimentary knowledge of email systems could have done it. (See "Palin Email "Hack" Was Hardly a Hack at All" at Gizmodo.)
- Secret government. Why was Sarah Palin using a private email account instead of the one provided for her by the state government of Alaska? She was doing so as a work-around to Alaska's Open Records Act. According to the Seattle Times, "Palin routinely uses a private Yahoo e-mail account to conduct state business. Others in the governor's office sometimes use personal e-mail accounts, too." To those of us who believe the public's business should be conducted in public, the attitude of the governor and her administration is troubling. But, given the permeable nature of "private" email accounts, this scheme comes up somewhat short of brilliant.
- Tracking the hack. If Palin doesn't have any protection from intrusions, then neither does the hacker. Attention is being focused on a University of Tennessee student who is the son of a Democratic legislator. (UT is where I teach, but no, I don't know him.) Even though he made some efforts to conceal his identity, he was tracked through a number of clues he left about himself and information that appeared in his high school yearbook. (For more details, see the Knoxville News Sentinel's "Kernell mum on allegations son hacked into Palin’s e-mail."
The Big Lesson here: The web is no place to hide. What happens on the web doesn't stay on the web.
When we put information, thoughts, ideas, pictures or whatever on the web, we lose control of it. And sometimes it comes back to haunt us.
Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (9)
at 18:55 on September 20th, 2008
This is a ridiculous post where the victim, Sarah Palin, is declared guilty of - someting?
"Why was Sarah Palin using a private email account instead of the one provided for her by the state government of Alaska? She was doing so as a work-around to Alaska's Open Records Act. According to the Seattle Times, "Palin routinely uses a private Yahoo e-mail account to conduct state business."
A reading of the entire article indicates that this is someone's opinion presented as fact.
The most important piece of information, which is stated in the opening paragraph, but the significance of which entirely escapes the poster, is that nothing was revealed by hacking Sarah Palin's e-mails. Does anyone believe that if anything embarassing had been found it would not have been splashed all over the left-wing blogs?
at 19:02 on September 20th, 2008
Hi jstovall,
Thanks so much for posting this. Could you mark it as opinion? You can do that in the edit field of the story - it's a little box you check.
And joellerose, as a wrangler, please don't jump all over a member with your opinion of what they have done.
There's a way to debate the subject matter without using phrases like 'ridiculous post', even if you think that is the case.
at 19:11 on September 20th, 2008
he should at least prefice it with 'alleged'.
at 20:51 on September 20th, 2008
jstovall, I like this story. It's good stuff.
I agree with your lesson at the end - it has happened with many people I would imagine. Even somthing like Facebook, which is supposed to be only for your friends, you even have to be a bit careful just in case something relates back to your work and it would be considered unprofessional.
at 21:09 on September 20th, 2008
Not only that Amy, but something like 33% of employers check facebook to see who their prospective employee associates with and often times refuses to hire that person.
As for joelle's comment, if she won't edit it herself, I believe TOS would make it necessary to delete that comment. Am I wrong?
at 21:12 on September 20th, 2008
No we don't delete member comments unless absolutely necessary, and in this case it's not
at 01:00 on September 21st, 2008
amyjudd,
I see that the piece has already been marked as "opinion." I hope this is sufficient.
Thanks to all who have commented including "joellerose." We disagree, but that's fine. I am glad to have your opinion associated with this post.
at 02:17 on September 21st, 2008
jstovall, I like this story. It's good stuff.
No secrets on the internet, that is right.
at 05:58 on September 21st, 2008
What a tangled web we weave when we practice to deceive. Palin (and the White House's) use of private email accounts to get around open records law and record preservation laws is more than illegal. It's careless and stupid. Indignation and outrage don't change those facts, although it is a nice attempt to cover up the real issue.