AP Refuses To Comply With Secret Service Request On Sarah Palin's Hacked E-Mails

WASHINGTON -- Hackers broke into the Yahoo! e-mail account that Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin used for official business as Alaska's governor, revealing as evidence a few inconsequential personal messages she has received since John McCain selected her as his running mate.

"This is a shocking invasion of the governor's privacy and a violation of law. The matter has been turned over to the appropriate authorities and we hope that anyone in possession of these e-mails will destroy them," the McCain campaign said in a statement.

The Secret Service contacted The Associated Press on Wednesday and asked for copies of the leaked e-mails, which circulated widely on the Internet. The AP did not comply.

The disclosure Wednesday raises new questions about the propriety of the Palin administration's use of nongovernment e-mail accounts to conduct state business. The practice was revealed months ago _ prior to Palin's selection as a vice presidential candidate _ after political critics obtained internal e-mails documenting the practice by some aides.

One person whose e-mail to Palin apparently was among those disclosed, Amy B. McCorkell, declined to discuss her correspondence. "I do not know anything about it," McCorkell said. "I'm not giving you any comment." Wired.com said McCorkell later confirmed that she did send the e-mail to Palin.

Another of the e-mails apparently revealed Wednesday was an exchange in July with Alaska Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell discussing a talk show host who had been critical of Parnell. Parnell declined to discuss the matter.

Palin herself used "gov.sarah" in one of her e-mail addresses, but the hackers targeted her "gov.palin" account. Her husband used "fek9wnr" in his address. "Fe" is the representation for iron, and "k9" is an abbreviation for canine. Todd Palin was the winner of the grueling Iron Dog snowmobile race, and "fek9wnr" also is Todd Palin's vehicle license tag in Alaska.

It wasn't immediately clear how hackers broke into Palin's Yahoo! account, but it would have been possible to trick the service into revealing her password knowing personal details about Palin that include her birthdate and ZIP code. A hacker also might have sent a forged e-mail to her account tricking her into revealing her own password.

McCorkell was appointed by Palin to an advisory board on issues involving alcohol and drug abuse. One of the leaked e-mails suggested McCorkell wrote to Palin on Sunday to say she was praying for Palin. "Don't let the negative press get you down!" the message said.

Comments

[missmuffette]

What a minute, the lady got phished wants us to put the security of the USA in her hands?!? aahahahahahahahhahahahah

[ssgman]

Exaaaaclty!

[paixa3]

it is about time all of us start telling the government to go screw themselves. McKaskey gave us permission.

[raskolnikov72]

who cares. there is an election to win.

[tbirdalum]

There is a very good reason that e-mail acct. was hacked. Her husband wanted to secede from the union and she lives next to Russia, so we used the Patriot Act to check and make sure her and her family are not terrorists. Just doing our patriotic duty.


O for 08

[Tenley]

I for one am not exactly bursting with confidence in entrusting a governor whose email can be hacked by a college student with our nation's security, thank you very much.

[decibelJONES]

If someone leaves their bike unlocked while they go shopping on a busy street,
they deserve to lose their bike.
Yes, the person who stole the bike is a criminal.
But the person who left the bike unlocked is also an idiot.
Now imagine that the bike is actually state secrets.
Oh, crap!

[optech007]

What state secrets have been reveled here?

[DwH]

Those would be Alaska state secrets, and who cares?

No, actually, I completely agree that this republican (dunno know nothin' bout the Google) ticket would, thanks to its incredible lack of interst in technology, place the nation at great risk if elected.

I like that her privacy was compromised. I like that this is exactly what they should reap from the so-called Patriot Act.

[Heavy]

Interesting question. Part of the reason for using more secure govt. emails. Now that the account was deleted, you won't know. Isn't incompetence and mystery fun? Guess you would prefer an administration that you have to second guess all the time. We would not.

[iranter]

it's funny how no one commented on the fact that a law was broken. that someone's privacy was violated. that no one is calling for an investigation into who what where and how private emails were hacked. people, get a grip on what matters here.

[Pippilin]

It's kind of hard to worry about Sarah's privacy when your e-mail records and mine are available
to the FISA folks every day.

[SportGirlie1]

Great point!!! I have communicated by phone and e-mail for the past 5 years with my friend who was working in Kabul and now in Baghdad. I was in incensed over the warrantless wiretapping and the little room at ATT in SanFrancisco. I know that all my communications have been monitored since then and there is nothing I can do about it. I am not a government official and I have an expectation of privacy.

[SportGirlie1]

It seems you also miss the point. Palin is violating the law, as well. As a public official all communications are open to public records requests. She is obviously trying to shield communications to avoid possible future disclosures. I do not agree that one's personal e-mails should be hacked, but when one blurs the line between professional and personal one open oneself open to this type of mischief. Stop hiding what you're really doing and have an open government. That's what this country needs and she is certainly not doing that!
That, my friend, is the real issue.

[Trshkb]

Sarah Palin, did not break the Law here, the hacker went into her familys computer and it was the family pictures and e-mails that where put out for the whole to see, if they did this to you, would you like it? I mean think about it, things that your kids write to friends and loved ones personal things, and finding her kids phone numbers and calling them. You think that its ok. No. public stuff yes but not personal and no stranger calls my kids, thats scary.

[ssgman]

You mean the law of only using government email accounts for government email? Anyway, those are public so the emails in the yahoo account are public.

[NTL]

I think the reason you're not seeing much scrutiny over the actual hacking off the account is because she was using a personal email address through yahoo which was itself a very irresponsible way to be conducting government business. God forbid she was anyone of consequence or had sensitive information in any of those emails. This would have most likely not have happened if she used her government email address. Also it's pretty doubtful that the investigation would get anything done. You can be sure that the people that know how to hack into these accounts probably also know how to hide their own tracks so its largely a useless endeavor that further implicates the irresponsibility of using a private yahoo email address for government work.

What matters here isn't that her email was hacked but that she put herself and staffers in positions where government information could have been accessed by hackers because she was using a publicly accessible email system.

[Heavy]

Private emails used for govt business are no longer private. The law that was broken was the public records law, broken by your candidate. Get a grip on what matters here.

[frappe]

She (Palin) is simply following in her mentor's lead (Bush). As we all know, the Bush administration was notorious for using private email to conduct the public's business as a way of preventing public scrutiny.

Why do Republicans have so much to hide???

[optech007]

I know, why does she have to hide e-mails about people praying for her and pictures of her family?

[freedog]

May I have access to your e-mail so I can post it in front of all your friends, enemies, employers, potential employers, family and 300 million other peopl so they can pass judgement on you without every having spent one minute with you.

[Heavy]

Another good question. Why does she refuse to turn emails over to the court? Maybe the courts just want to see people praying for her and pictures of her family. Bwahahaha.

[Mysticalsister]

I'm sure that's where she got the bright idea. there are probably workshops for repugnicans in government showing them how to circumvent the will of the people with all kinds of slimy tricks of the trade. we are so behind the times people. the only hope we have is to reveal this bullsh*t everytime we find it, until they have no place to hide anymore.

[Tenley]

I don't approve of the hacking -- culprit should serve time. But seriously, is this a candidate to potentially be running our national security?

[AbrakadaBarak]

Sloppy Palin. What's next?

[optech007]

I've never been a believer in conspiracy theories but as of yesterday my opinion on them has started to change so here's an interesting one.

I watched an interview w/ a KGB defector a few years ago. In the interview, he said that a lot of the work KGB did was to infiltrate American academia so they could essential brainwash people into believing what they are told no matter what. To paraphase he said, "The idea was that, even when presented with evidence showing what they think is false, they would still not believe it."

So now we have emails from her personal account, that people claim she uses for govt. purposes, showing family pictures, an address book, complaining about the media, and people saying that they're praying for her. Not a single word about state business but most of the posters here take this as confirmation that she was using this account for that purpose.

[ssgman]

Holy Cow!! You mean the KGB created NEOCONS? Who would've thunk it?

BTW, There was tons of state business in her account.

[optech007]

"BTW, There was tons of state business in her account."

If you can show one thing in these e-mails that relates to official state business I will stop arguing this point. So far no one else has been able to.

[Heavy]

You have not read the already posted govt related emails and links eh? I guess you think she refuses to turn over emails because she does not want to see people praying for her etc. Amusing.

[Tenley]

Seems weirdly like that blogger who came instantly out of nowhere when Palin was named and ran all those complex stories that started the whole "The Media's Just Out to Get Us!" campaign and let McCain's campaign drop the bomb that her daughter was pregnant in the middle of all the much more over-the-top hysteria over the bloggers. Be careful -- same thing could be going on here.

[manitoumackinac]

The NeoCons will probably start controlling the internet now.

[ssgman]

You mean the noecons will be conTROLLing the internets.

[torrrep]

You don't own the internet so bite me.

[instagladiator]

I think they already have - where do you think this readily available info comes from? HLS! To make it appear that "the other side" is doing all this stuff.

[Heavy]

Typical pug tactics, blame the whistle blower for their crimes. Show remorse only for the fact that they got caught. We've all seen it for years. Pathetic. Time for transparency. Honor the subpoenas Palin, turn over the 1100 emails and testify.

[torrrep]

What crime? Not one evidence of a crime has been presented. You complain about phone lines being so called "illegaly" tapped but it's ok to illegally hack someone's e-mail? Typical left wing hypocrisy.

[maying]

i do not agree with the hacking. BUT she would not be in this trouble if she agreed to release ALL communication via email when it was subpoenaed. oh and just to be fair -- conservative michelle malkin released the phone numbers of 2 college kids awhile back and they got threatened over the phone. i don't remember any outrage coming from that incident.

[Heavy]

Right, there was a 14 to nothing bipartisan vote to conduct an investigation for no reason. Get a grip. Do some reading. We can't do it for you.

[Heavy]

Lol, "not one evidence", no many pieces including emails, taped phone conversation, testimony, using private email for govt business etc etc. You are right, not "one"

Why are you so afraid of truth, of subpoenas, of investigations? Typical right wing hypocrisy.

[instagladiator]

uhhh, "In what context Charlie?"

[MisterCole]

Using personal accounts for Government business.

The question should be asked, "What are you trying to hide Governor?"

[optech007]

Family pictures, complaints about the media, and prayers are govt. business?

[CtJean]

On government time, they are government business