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Governor of Alaska Sarah Palin, who is also the Republican VP nominee, has faced some criticism recently stemming from charges that she used private e-mail accounts to conduct state business. In an effort to prove this, one of her private accounts was hijacked and the contents made public.
Palin\'s email account compromised...(Photo:State.ak.us)
On Tuesday evening, someone broke into a Yahoo account owned by Palin (gov.palin@yahoo.com), and published various pieces of its content to the Web. The information, which includes screenshots of the inbox, two example e-mails, the address book, and a couple of family photos, is now available on the secret busting site Wikileaks.
If you've been following the election coverage, then you're familiar with the charges that Palin used personal e-mail access to conduct state business. Even before she was placed on the McCain ticket, there were some issues in her home state over her e-mail use. The reports allege Palin and her staff often rely on private e-mail for communication.
The problem is that if these private accounts were used for state business, then they could be exempt from public records, and the use is viewed as a means to skirt disclosure laws. The e-mails that were released show clear communication from various state officials, including one exchange between Palin and Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell.
The gov.palin account is the second account owned by Palin. The press has reported on another account on Yahoo, gov.sarah, which is said to also have been used for state business.
The e-mail account information was released by someone “loosely” affiliated with the group Anonymous, according to Wikileaks, however there is no proof other than a few screen captures with the /b/ Random reference, which most will know is an established hangout for some Anonymous members.
Anonymous, as some will recall, is the collective that takes issue with the Scientology movement and seeks to expose the alleged religion as a scam.
Some comments on the account information claim the images and the e-mails are false. However, the gov.palin account was last updated on 04/05/2008, long before the VP nomination. Moreover, Todd Palin, Sarah’s husband, has e-mailed the account several times; his e-mail address (fek9wnr) is also filed in the account's contact list.
While the McCain/Palin camp is outraged over the compromise of the e-mail account, the cat is out of the bag. As of 09/17/08, the gov.palin and the gov.sarah accounts have been removed from Yahoo.
"This is a shocking invasion of the Governor's privacy and a violation of law," campaign manager Rick Davis said in a statement. "The matter has been turned over to the appropriate authorities and we hope that anyone in possession of these emails will destroy them. We will have no further comment."
FBI Spokesman Eric Gonzalez in Anchorage, Alaska, said the Secret Service is in on the investigation as well as the FBI. "We are aware of the allegations and we are coordinating with Secret Service as far as the allegation that someone has hacked into Governor Palin's personal e-mail account. We are going to be working a joint investigation with Secret Service on this."
If, and this is a big if, there was in fact state business conducted on these accounts, the removal of them is in violation of the law. The good news is you can bet copies of the whole account were made before its removal and, if needed, the e-mails can appear again.
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