People that keep achieves of IM's....do so with a purpose. There is little doubt in my mind that he knew precisely what he was going to do with the IM's...my guess is that he tried this year to get a juicy job in DC at high salary...and got flat turned down. Foley probably even tried to help a little...but a young guy around 21 years old...isn't going to pull in more than $60k in the DC area. He was probably betting that Foley would ensure a position on his staff, and he failed miserably...so it was revenge time.
As for privacy of the IM...if these stupid congressmen can't stop identity theft or computer hackers...why should anyone dream of information privacy on the web? Get real. The politicans have guaranteed their buddies of an absolute open door...so now...here is trouble on your doorstep. I think this is totally open for anyone to do...and I don't have heartburn. No one should.
Have you been following PhiKapMom's posts? He seems like a real mountain of trouble this 'boy'.