Washington Post Now Claims "Authorized" to Access MD4BUSH Account

Saturday, November 5, 2005 | Kristinn

[kristinn]

After yesterday's press conference in front of The Washington Post building in downtown Washington, D.C. that criticized The Post for violating their sourcing guidelines and for accessing a FreeRepublic.com account in possible violation of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, an editor for The Post is now claiming authorization to log-in to the account of MD4BUSH.

Earlier this week, Post Maryland editor R.B. Brenner made statements that reporter Matthew Mosk had logged in to MD4BUSH's account "two or three times" after being given the password by an "intermediary" in order to authenticate private messages sent between MD4BUSH and NCPAC on Free Republic.

Brenner has maintained that The Post does not know who MD4BUSH is.

Brenner is reported to have made the following statement to The Post for their story today about the press conference:

"As part of our reporting, we needed to verify that the chat room postings were authentic. We were authorized to view them, and it was appropriate to do so under the circumstances."

Link to Post article here.

[jellybean]

Which means whomever it is could be reading all this right now.. hmmmm.

You don't have to have an account to read any thread on FR. Just a computer and internet access.

Got the popcorn ready...waiting for the next shovelful from the WaPo as they dig themselves deeper...

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

[...an editor for The Post {R.B. Brenner} is now claiming authorization to log-in to the account of MD4BUSH....Brenner has maintained that The Post does not know who MD4BUSH is.

Is Brenner STILL maintaining that the Post does not know who MD4BUSH is? If so, then how can they claim that they had "authorization" to view MD4BUSH's emails? Something fishy here.

[rvoitier]

Thanks for the clarification, John.

It's getting hard to tell the players without a program. :-)

[NonValueAdded]

I swear that there was a thread prior to the whole NCPAC thing where my reaction to a post by the MD4BUSH account was "troll!" I kick myself for not posting that directly.

I'd like to know how an "intermediary" can authorize access unless the third party (WaPo) knows both parties and can verify that the intermediary has a valid proxy / PoA. That could only mean that the intermediary was a lawyer since that is the only scenario I can think of where the WaPo would assume authority was granted.

[shutup_you_idiot]

I wonder if he wears pajamas when he FReeps.

[shutup_you_idiot]

You might want to revise your names.......Robert Ehrlich is the Governor - Joseph Steffen is the out of work former staffer.

lol. I knew that. Yeah, that's the ticket... :)

(Thanks.)

[Political Junkie Too]

a little birdie told me that it's starting to circulate in professional journalism circles, too.

Maybe it's just me, but I always had the feeling that professional journalists avoid mentioning FR when possible, referring to Little Green Footballs, or other blogs as sources instead. I think they try to diminish FR (calling it a chat room, for instance) in order to prevent it from getting even wider exposure across the country.

I think they're afraid of FR.

-PJ

[newzjunkey]

bump!

[tiredoflaundry]

Would this be in time for the next freepathon?

LOL!

[Veto!]

fyi

[Sub-Driver]

I'm shocked there's gambling going here.

Sir here's your winnings...........

[NonValueAdded]

they have violated ethical journalism behavior!

Holy oxymorons, Batman, is there such a thing???

[Willie Green]

MD4Bush is not banned.

Well he hasn't posted anything since February, either....
Sheeeeesh.... you'd think he'd at least come back long enough to write an opus...
just disappearing like that is wrong... I feel cheated...

;^)

[shutup_you_idiot]

Got the popcorn ready...

I got your back... When you run out, here's some more. In fact, this might keep ALL of us fat and happy.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

If you don't believe the Post, just ask them. They'll tell you that Matt Mosk wasn't always MD4Bush.

They could always try the Kerry Defense Gambit: "We know that Matt Mosk was MD4Bush before we knew that he wasn't MD4Bush."

[Keith in Iowa]

>>> I think they're afraid of FR.<<<

They should be. :)

[Toskrin]

I think it's interesting to note that MD4BUSH's first post, on the day he signed up, was to NCPAC. Strange coincidence? They have to know each other.

[Anti-Bubba182]

"..That could only mean that the intermediary was a lawyer since that is the only scenario I can think of where the WaPo would assume authority was granted."

If the WP or MD4Bush's intermediary assumed any such thing, they would be wrong. See post 102

It is all the worse if the intermediary was an attorney who should have been aware of the law. Also every forum has rules of access and use. It is common knowledge among users of forums and the attorney, if there was one, should have looked. MD4Bush had to have looked because the rules are on the page to register. Where you click I accept, you agree to observe the rules. If MD4Bush did not pay attention, it is no defense.

[SeaBiscuit]

I know, lurked awhile myself. It was the IP# that was on my mind, though I doubt it would be different, or if it was, that most likly wouldn't lead to anywhere interesting, but then again one never knows how stupid the reporters at WAPO might be. ;-)

[Texas Songwriter]

This is probably the only place the Washington Post acquires accurate information.