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.

[Raycpa]

Anonymous authorization.


happens all the time

Just last week some anonymous guy authorized me to use his charge account

[SeaBiscuit]

Yep, that's how I see it. This smells to the high heaven.

[armymarinemom]

This is just stupid. Authorized by who? This statement by them doesn't settle anything.

[weegee]

Bingo. I certainly recall discussions that indicate mods DO look at ISP info in determining returning trolls registering repeatedly under new names.

[SeaBiscuit]

"It certainly didn't get permission from NCPAC, and it denies that it knows who MD4Bush."

Exactly, so what conclusion can we derive from this other than WAPO is lying bigtime.

[Terpfen]

Yes, I know that.

I was answering your question, not defending the WaPo.

[weegee]

The Zogbyism of the left is far worse than McCarthyism ever was. There WERE communists in government and American institutions (still are).

Meanwhile the left continues to smear political opponents with false statements. They seek to criminalize conservativism.

JR won against the city council that denounced an FR gathering (Sacramento?). More power to him if he can get The Washington Poop to pony up millions over this stunt.

[an amused spectator]

How can they now claim that he wasn't always MD4Bush if they cannot point to a substitute?

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

[Rightwing Conspiratr1]

This is more serious than the Plame incident. In fact "unauthorized use" is a Federal crime. I'd be contacting the FBI.

These may or may be applicable -
18 USC § 2701, prohibiting access to communications stored on a computer (i.e., privacy of e-mail)
18 USC § 2510-11, prohibiting interception of electronic communications
California Statutes, Title 13 (Penal Code), §§ 502(b)(10) and 502(c)(8).

[xcamel]

It wouldn't be that hard for WAPO to pay and "intermediary" to hack the computers of the "leading suspects" they thought were MD4BUSH until they found the "right one".

I believe it has been done before....

[CyberAnt]

And .. that "not typically" statement is usually the clue.

One of the key words is "HATE". As much as we disliked Clinton and were upset over his actions, I still don't remember FR going on a "hate-Clinton" rampage like the Bush-haters have done.

The haters think we only write msgs about how much we "hate" people. That makes them easy to spot!

[Anti-Bubba182]

I notice the WP burried this in the, "METRO" section. Wouldn't want to attract any undue attention.

[sausageseller]

The WaPO has underestimated FReepers.

The FR pit-bulls have their jaws locked on the WaPos neck and are not gonna let go. Every time they speak and write more about this, the pit-bulls are clamping down a little tighter!

[mass55th]

"I hate John Kerry and I'm sick of his lies. This is the most important election in history and George Bush must win. If not the Islamic Terrorists will win, there will be more attacks on the states."

I was told long ago in college English courses that newspapers require their articles be written at grade school level so that more of the public can read them. The above statement from MD4BUSH proves it.

[SeaBiscuit]

I'm more inclined to believe Mosk IS MD4BUSH rather than some hacking of computers.

[Rightwing Conspiratr1]

California...
502(c) Except as provided in subdivision (i), any person who commits any of the following acts is guilty of a public offense:
...
(2) Knowingly accesses and without permission takes, copies, or makes use of any data from a computer, computer system, or computer network, or takes or copies any supporting documentation, whether existing or residing internal or external to a computer, computer system, or computer network.
(3) Knowingly and without permission uses or causes to be used computer services.

[OldFriend]

It's the CRIME. They had no right to use deception to log into a private freepmail account.

[an amused spectator]

Just last week some anonymous guy authorized me to use his charge account

"Oops, sorry, Mrs. H, I guess this just isn't my week".

[woofer]

but it's ok for them to sneak in and basically knowingly try to sabotage FR

DJ, we're Conservatives. They're Liberals. They only care about the laws and courts that they can use against us.

The rest is just window dressing to them.

[Raycpa]

Wasn't the WaPo all outraged over privacy invasion when it was discovered Linda Trip recorded Monica?

How is this different?