Palin's Private E-Mail Indicates Bush-Like Secrecy

ABC:

It's not a great idea to run a government using Yahoo! e-mail accounts.

Gov. Sarah Palin's e-mail habit of using a private account to communicate with aides echos the worst practices of the Bush administration, says one expert.

That's the word from experts, anyway, reacting to news that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's Yahoo! e-mail had been hacked earlier this week. McCain's vice-presidential pick apparently used the accounts to communicate with key aides about government business.

The practice is dangerous, said experts, and can run counter to laws ensuring government is open and accountable -- a tough point for Palin, who has made "open government" a catchphrase of her political identity.

By using non-governmental email systems, "Your information is out there available, beyond the official mechanisms there to protect it," said Amit Yoran, the nation's first cybersecurity chief. Yoran is now CEO of Netwitness Corp., a computer security firm for government and private entities.

Read the whole story: ABC

Comments

[herryk]

It amazes me that the responses haven't been concerned about someone hacking into an email account! From the responses no one cares that the ends really don't justify the means. If something is wrong about Palin using those accounts, there are legal ways to get into them Hacking is an illegal activity. Doesn't that bother anyone? Or, has the desire to see Palin brought down become so strong that we have forgotten that she has rights, just as we have rights? That it is through laws that this country is held stable? Before email, this would have been the same as someone breaking into her house to open her mail, same principle. We don't want our rights violated..­..our email accounts hacked into. Do any of you work for the government in any capacity? My husband teaches. Most of his teacher related emails come to his home email address. This made my daughter (an attorney) realize that should anyone care to look, this activity could also cause him a problem. Perhaps this type of thing could cause you a problem, too, if someone cared to look.....a­nd hack into your accounts. I think we need to think a little about what this election is doing to us as individual­s.....to the way we are thinking..­...Anyone out there heard of Watergate? It was one party eavesdropping on another party.....­.did you condemn that? In the big scheme of things, I don't see the difference between that and this hacking.

[FuturePrez]

I'd be shocked to hear that Yahoo! doesn't back-up its servers regularly. If it does, one would think that the emails and account information are not lost unless someone or the company deliberately sets out to loose them.

[EuroPreacher]

Here is my take on this e-mail story:
1-Palin want to get rid of problematic e-mails
2- create a hacking story
3- shut all her yahoos' accounts up.
4-Job well done and the media does the rest of the job by making her look like a victim to unsuspecting viewers!

[nicholasclaxton]

YAY - and i thought i was the only who sees it that way....

clearly the case - however there is no way the emails are 'gone - gone' from the yahoo system...

we'll never know - - and never a better example of "bush in a skirt"

[Navy VET EOD]

Hopefully AP is doing an internal legal review to determine what, if anything, they can share with the public. I assume that anything construed to be government business would be fair game. Any attorneys out there?

[sleek]

Why won't Palin release her Tax Returns and Medical Records?
Why won't Palin release her Tax Returns and Medical Records?
Why won't Palin release her Tax Returns and Medical Records?
Why won't Palin release her Tax Returns and Medical Records?
Why won't Palin release her Tax Returns and Medical Records?
Why won't Palin release her Tax Returns and Medical Records?
Why won't Palin release her Tax Returns and Medical Records?
Why won't Palin release her Tax Returns and Medical Records?

[EuroPreacher]

Here is my take on this e-mail story:
1-Palin want to get rid of problematic e-mails
2- create a hacking story
3- shut all her yahoos' accounts up.
4-Job well done and the media does the rest of the job by making her look like a victim to unsuspecting viewers!

[Tahoedreamer]

Obviously because there is a problem with them.
Obviously because there is a problem with them.
Obviously because there is a problem with them.
Obviously because there is a problem with them.
Obviously because there is a problem with them.
Obviously because there is a problem with them.
Obviously because there is a problem with them.
Obviously because there is a problem with them.
Obviously because there is a problem with them.
Obviously because there is a problem with them.
Obviously because there is a problem with them.
Obviously because there is a problem with them.

[optech007]

Can somebody please tell me which one of these e-mails has to do with state business?

[milo h minderbinder]

Just because they're not available for YOU to see and read doesn't mean that they don't exist. Many news sources have confirmed that she used yahoo email for official state business, and her staff admitted exactly that before she was even nominated for VP.

And yes, this was a controversy BEFORE her yahoo email was even hacked.