Posted on 09/17/2008 1:47:32 PM PDT by AUJenn
Sometime early this morning, between approximately 3:00am - 4:00am, members of an infamous group of hackers broke into Gov. Sarah Palin’s private Yahoo e-mail account. The incriminating discussion threads included screenshots of Palin’s e-mail and private e-mail addresses of her contacts. The threads have since been deleted.
Hacking e-mail is a federal crime. A TV anchor who broke into his colleague’s e-mail account recently pleaded guilty and faces a maximum five years in prison.
The law will catch up to the hackers, but what about the lowlifes who are now gleefully splashing the alleged contents of Palin’s private e-mail account all over the Internet?
The Gawker smear machine — see here for all the background you need — has posted private family photos of Palin’s children that were apparently stolen from the e-mail account.
They have used Bristol Palin’s illegally obtained private cell phone number from her mom’s private account, recorded her voicemail message, and posted it on their website.
They have reprinted her husband Todd’s private e-mail address and son Track’s private e-mail address.
You think this is just a harmless prank? Those of you who have had to deal with break-ins and identity theft know exactly what a burdensome process it is to recover from crimes like this.
Gawker knowingly and deliberately published illegally obtained photos of the Palin children.
Where are the privacy absolutists now?
You think Palin Derangement Syndrome is bad now? These by-any-means-necessary lunatics are just warming up.
Let me repeat what I said about Nick Denton and his slime businesses in 2006. It’s every bit as relevant now. And I expect the same cowards who said nothing then to remain silent about the violations of the Palin family’s privacy now:
I heard Hannity on his radio show today talking about this. He said “it is a federal crime and they endangered a VP candidate’s safety. The secret service will find whoever did this.”
Hey, this is a job for the Secret Service.
How do hackers generally go after an email account?
Yup. This is Watergate type stuff! They are scared ****less their faux-messiah will lose to McCain/Palin.
Thanks, I stand corrected. Larry Mendte accessed his coworkers Yahoo email 537 times and for those 537 intrusions into her email could receive a maximum of five years in prison but will likely receive a lesser sentence.
So looks like the Feds out a maximum of 3.4 days in prison for each time a person accesses a person’s email without authorization.
They probably just went after the password in an automated attack. Often these things use dictionaries, algorithms or worst case a brute force attack. With enough computers on the task, it's just a matter of time.
Of course there is a Right to Privacy. Are you familiar with the 5th Amendment which protects us and our homes, papers and effects from unreasonable search and seizure? It’s a short distance from there. Once her papers and effects are out in public, they are no longer secure. That’s not a stretch.
Also, theft of this type of data is considered to be theft from the person whose Email account has been compromised. You could look it up.
My understanding is that this was her private Email account, not her government account. Have you heard different?
Agreed!
Yeah, Dogz, I was thinking the same. I see nowhere that she used the account for government business.
But, wouldn’t that involve thousands of attempted false passwords? Surely the system would pick up on that?
If found guilty it could get the person 5 years in prison.
Recognize the name Bob Beckel?
Following the 2000 elections Rats tried to blackmail Electoral College delegates not bound by state law. Last I heard Beckel was one of the blackmailers.
Also 2000, Al Gore's henchmen told MSNBC that "if they don't get the [Florida] result they want . . . they'll make Katherine Harris pay with her career and her reputation."
Re-read my reply. I never said the 5th did that. You’re reading into it what is convenient for you to claim. I made a different point.
Amd I’ll add, since it seems you’ve lost track of it, that in mentioning the 5th Amendment, I was responding to your curious claim that there is no Right to Privacy. You were wrong about that.
whoozat?
Find out more information before you make the kind of posts you're making.
Aside from the other run-of-the-mill felonies, how do you think the Secret Service views someone monitoring a protectee's emails and thereby gaining knowledge of the protectee's movements? Very similar to tapping their phone for the same purpose, I would say.
What sort of laws do you think they have in place for such eventualities? The perp is going to find out, and I wouldn't want to be him just about now.
The Watergate Burglars
-PJ
Could you please specify where I said that a crime was not committed by hacking into Sarah’s Yahoo account?
And yes, I am sure that the hacker will be found and prosecuted but there does not seem to be stiff penalties for breaking into a person’s email account.
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