Comments on: palin's yahoo mail hacked ... oh anonymous, what will you do next

palin's yahoo mail hacked ... oh anonymous, what will you do next

yeoz — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:05:22 -0800

Sarah Palin's email gets hacked by Anonymous (right, that Anonymous). And given the legal contro versy surrounding her email, one wonders if the fact that her yahoo email accounts are now deleted constitutes destruction of evidence or violations of public-records laws. Its hit Wikileaks too, but, I'm not sure they have more then what's already released (rapidshare).

By: yeoz

yeoz — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:08:23 -0800

oops, forgot one link: Threatlevel confirms the authenticity of at least one of the emails.

By: Benjy

Benjy — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:08:30 -0800

Oh Internet, how you amuse me so...

By: infinitewindow

infinitewindow — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:10:15 -0800

Holy shit. I forsee a shitstorm of massive proportions with regards to electronic privacy and network activity. Prepare for the Internet to route around the United States.

By: Optimus Chyme

Optimus Chyme — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:10:57 -0800

Yahoo will still have the records in their database. I hope they are subpoenaed soon. Also, any state or federal employee doing government business over a commercial public webmail service deserves to have their email released to the public, because the only reason to use a service like Yahoo is to hide evidence of wrongdoing. Or if you are a fucking idiot.

By: jessamyn

jessamyn — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:11:52 -0800

What is this rapidshare file?

By: graventy

graventy — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:13:00 -0800

This is why you don't conduct government business using a public e-mail address.

By: yeoz

yeoz — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:13:38 -0800

the rapidshare has jpgs of some emails, a contact list, and some personal photos. (it's the same stuff in the zip on wikileaks, except that wikileaks changed some stuff for who-knows-what-reason)

By: hal9k

hal9k — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:14:18 -0800

And this differs from all the reasons I won't vote for her (deep breath) how?

By: Mr_Zero

Mr_Zero — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:14:50 -0800

That is great. Good job guys.

By: Shepherd

Shepherd — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:15:02 -0800

because the only reason to use a service like Yahoo is to hide evidence of wrongdoing. Or if you are a fucking idiot. You've got your chocolate in my peanut butter! No, you've got your peanut butter in my chocolate!

By: cortex

cortex — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:16:49 -0800

So the open question here is, aside from what's clearly been distributed so far, whether one of the folks involved in this actually got a full dump of the account contents and is sitting on it.

By: spicynuts

spicynuts — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:18:43 -0800

I thought these bigwigs had their own email server deep under Iron Mountain or something that they used to conduct all of their corruption and shit. But lo, it was yahoo all along. She MUST have a geocities page with her evil plan posted on it somewhere! Get to work!

By: Justinian

Justinian — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:18:48 -0800

This is boring. I was hoping for some emails where she was writing to her family members in a panic wondering how she was going to fake being prepared to step in as president or something.

By: NinjaTadpole

NinjaTadpole — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:19:15 -0800

This is why you don't conduct government business using a public e-mail address. This was a private email address, and not having a legal data trail (as Mr President and Mrs Palin have kindly demonstrated) is why you don't conduct business, especially governmental business, using one. Unless, cleverly, you are dispensing distopian advice to our overlords

By: rafter

rafter — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:19:21 -0800

As they said on Reddit, why the hell didn't anyone read Veep Talking Points? If you're going to go through the trouble of gaining access to a prominent politician's behind-the-curtains account, don't just look at photos of their kids.

By: East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94

East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:19:33 -0800

Oh great. How are we going to get McCain to use a computer now?

By: matteo

matteo — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:19:37 -0800

maybe John McCain, self-proclaimed inventor of the Blackberry, can sort this mess out

By: Lord_Pall

Lord_Pall — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:19:42 -0800

Normal people are usually very boring in their day to day life. Even really evil normal people. Hitler probably had boring email too.

By: The Straightener

The Straightener — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:20:27 -0800

Apparently her password was "mooseburger."

By: Astro Zombie

Astro Zombie — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:20:55 -0800

Obama's email.

By: rzklkng

rzklkng — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:21:05 -0800

@jessamyn, don't bother. There's no "there" there. I find it difficult that a person who just became the VP nominee - the first Republican woman nominee, no less - has so few congratulatory emails, or that 'anonymous' wouldn't have hit her 'trash' or 'sent' folders. The dates covered (August through now) neatly overlap the "vetting" period as well as the time-frame where people are asking about abuse of power email records request. At best, this is not a complete picture (she has at least one other address) and at worst a smokescreen to either garner sympathy or prove that there's no treachery afoot in her email abuse. I don't want to approach Bush TANG or Obama birth certificate "kerners are go!" levels, but this just isn't attention worthy, save the hacking and invasion of privacy. These are not the emails you are looking for. <>

By: Artw

Artw — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:21:44 -0800

This is not very 1337.

By: Optimus Chyme

Optimus Chyme — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:22:09 -0800

So the open question here is, aside from what's clearly been distributed so far, whether one of the folks involved in this actually got a full dump of the account contents and is sitting on it. posted by cortex at 11:16 AM on September 17 I seriously doubt it. What worries me is if McCain and Palin are this careless with their official government correspondence - using Yahoo email, for god's sake - how they possibly be trusted to not accidentally forward state secrets to America's enemies? That is in no way a joke, incidentally. They are both so clueless technologically that I can see one of them Replying All and thereby sending Putin a copy of an email calling him "a coward without the balls to use Russia's nuclear arsenal." I really can.

By: matteo

matteo — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:23:27 -0800

whether one of the folks involved in this actually got a full dump of the account contents and is sitting on it. that's the question. and really, given the amount of effort it must have taken (unless her password was, like, "password", or "jesus") to hack the account, why shouldn't have they gotten the full moose enchilada? it wouldn't make any sense. if they haven't, and ther's only harmless stuff, I call shenanigans. and I have to assume the campaign did it themselves to slam Obama's criminal hackers who will violate your privacy before converting you to Islam.

By: Science!

Science! — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:23:35 -0800

jessamyn: "What is this rapidshare file?" If it's anything like most of the rapidshare files I've seen it's porn.

By: Lord_Pall

Lord_Pall — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:23:46 -0800

It looks like they just did some shots and posted to 4chan or wherever. No full dump. That's sorta depressing. I was hoping for a huge sweeping expose of corruption and gossip. No idea why, but it would be interesting to watch.

By: Artw

Artw — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:23:56 -0800

Because the only reason to use a service like Yahoo is to hide evidence of wrongdoing. Or folksy smalltown values!

By: Astro Zombie

Astro Zombie — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:25:10 -0800

Kim Jong Il the Illmatic's personal chats.

By: mattbucher

mattbucher — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:25:39 -0800

What cortex said. Call me when they release the dump. ..... Actually, don't.

By: rzklkng

rzklkng — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:26:56 -0800

Indeed, matteo. Keep in mind, she is most Cheneyesque.

By: Astro Zombie

Astro Zombie — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:27:44 -0800

I saw an adult movie once called Call Me When They Release the Dump. Can't recommend it.

By: Skorgu

Skorgu — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:28:08 -0800

Oh now that's just excellent.

By: Effigy2000

Effigy2000 — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:28:49 -0800

Optimus Chyme: "That is in no way a joke, incidentally. They are both so clueless technologically that I can see one of them Replying All and thereby sending Putin a copy of an email calling him "a coward without the balls to use Russia's nuclear arsenal." I really can." An interesting scenario, but one that fails given that for Putin to receive a message sent with the Reply All function, he would have either had to have sent the message calling him "a coward without the balls to use Russia's nuclear arsenal" or at the very least would already have been in on it. Plus it requires McCain to know what e-mail, or even a computer is.

By: yeoz

yeoz — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:28:55 -0800

she has at least one other address

she had two yahoo email accounts gov.sarah@ and gov.palin@ this is the second of the two, the one that was apparently being used for 'official correspondence', and not the other more public/visible one.

given the amount of effort it must have taken (unless her password was, like, "password", or "jesus") to hack the account

apparently, all it takes to hack a yahoo password is birthdate and zip code.

By: cortex

cortex — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:29:16 -0800

why shouldn't have they gotten the full moose enchilada? it wouldn't make any sense. Well, don't discount the very real possibility that the principals were all goofy, frightened 4chan kiddos who had no idea what they were going to do in the case of unexpected success. VP Palin's email as Mrs. Robinson; /b/guy as Benjamin Braddock. It's not the only possibility, but it's a compelling one.

By: BrotherCaine

BrotherCaine — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:29:31 -0800

The .7z file extension is the 7-zip format. There are multiple extractors, but 7-zip is probably best for windows. Linux and MacOSX can use the command line utility P7zip.

By: Squid Voltaire

Squid Voltaire — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:29:43 -0800

I really, really don't believe that they've infiltrated 4chan. It does seem odd to me that someone would hack her email account and only release such uninteresting stuff, but many things that /b/ does seems odd to me.

By: yeoz

yeoz — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:30:22 -0800

birthdate and zip code

oh, and both of which are probably in the public record for someone like her, i meant to say...

By: Artw

Artw — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:30:56 -0800

The Plague: Our recent unknown intruder penetrated using the superuser account, giving him access to our whole system. Margo: Precisely what you're paid to prevent. The Plague: Someone didn't bother reading my carefully prepared memo on commonly-used passwords. Now, then, as I so meticulously pointed out, the four most-used passwords are: love, sex, secret, and... god. So, would your holiness care to change her password?

By: rzklkng

rzklkng — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:32:03 -0800

If I were a political operative, however, I would certainly release things as a slow, painful drip-drip. The missteps as the attempt to spin and obfuscate would be more telling than anything else. Cover-up being bigger than the crime and all that... After all, "who knows what else is out there?"

By: Joey Michaels

Joey Michaels — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:32:45 -0800

Needs more photoshopped images of pedobear going after the Palin children.

By: Ynoxas

Ynoxas — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:34:23 -0800

This doesn't add up. This is either a total hoax or at least a red herring. If someone had access to this, it would be sold to the DNC for lots of zeroes, and it would be sereptitiously monitored, not given screenshots in a forum. This is not the "secret email" account.

By: Optimus Chyme

Optimus Chyme — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:35:32 -0800

An interesting scenario, but one that fails given that for Putin to receive a message sent with the Reply All function, he would have either had to have sent the message calling him "a coward without the balls to use Russia's nuclear arsenal" or at the very least would already have been in on it. posted by Effigy2000 at 11:28 AM on September 17 dude with old people and hockey moms all things are possible i have gotten probably twenty animated-dancing-bears-love-jesus forwards in the last year by some lady in oklahoma who is this lady i don't know but she urgently wants me to know that dancing bears love jesus

By: troy

troy — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:35:51 -0800

^ohshit it's another Rovian plant!

By: rzklkng

rzklkng — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:37:46 -0800

Have we checked /b/? I'm sure they won't take kindly to being "loosely implicated" if they had nothing to do with it.

By: Pope Guilty

Pope Guilty — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:38:04 -0800

If someone had access to this, it would be sold to the DNC for lots of zeroes, and it would be sereptitiously monitored, not given screenshots in a forum. Like most people, you do not understand /b/.

By: ryoshu

ryoshu — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:39:24 -0800

Boring docs are boring.

By: Uther Bentrazor

Uther Bentrazor — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:40:11 -0800

EPIC FAIL

By: ericb

ericb — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:40:14 -0800

In related news -- Martha Stewart: 'I would feel weird, really weird' about having a president who can't use a computer.

By: mwhybark

mwhybark — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:40:18 -0800

I feel like I should point out that non-governmental communications workarounds appear fairly common, to me. On two separate occasions I have had police officer acquaintances note to me that they generally use private cell phones for off-record communications in the course of their duties. Make of that what you will.

By: [@I][:+:][@I]

[@I][:+:][@I] — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:40:26 -0800

I for one would find it comedic if Palin gets in big trouble for deleting the accounts, like that guy who lost to the RIAA because he reinstalled Windows, especially if there wasn't anything especially incriminating there in the first place.

By: Jairus

Jairus — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:40:58 -0800

This hack is pure wasted potential.

By: blixco

blixco — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:41:40 -0800

I have a feeling that someone has all the email from both accounts, and they are right now in some sort of shady deal to sell the data to $someone (or perhaps to Palin herself). Criminals tend to be criminals; whoever did this may have started doing it for the lulz, but I have a feeling the full monty'll end up at a tabloid or purchased by the RNC. Unrelated: does anyone else see Palin with a jacket on that reads "The Gov" on the back a la Mel Brooks in Blazing Saddles?

By: East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94

East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:41:53 -0800

Like most people, you do not understand /b/. Richard Feynman said "If you think you understand /b/, you don't understand /b/".

By: ed

ed — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:44:06 -0800

I'm not a person who advocates violating a person's privacy -- even someone as noxious as Sarah Palin. Having said this, however, if you're going to hack into a vice presidential candidate's email account, you might wish to, oh say, open up the email with the subject header "Fw: veep talking pts" and take a screenshot. You might want to disseminate the emails that reveal how the person in question thinks, what crazed plans the person might have for the country, what the person's thoughts are on recent economic disasters, and the like -- all this so that those who continue to lionize Sarah Palin, peddle in gossip about her family, can see the hypothetical sociopath she really is. Unless there's another file sitting around, and it would seem between the Wikileaks and Rapidshare file that both have the same data, this seems to me a missed opportunity. Is it really worth it to have the Feds go after you over some photo of Palin with her eyes crossed? This is amateurish hacking. It does nothing to contribute to the political discourse. And it does everything to create more sympathy towards Palin. Congratulations, Anonymous, you bungled this badly. In a race this close and with our economic state a veritable clusterfuck right now, it's the unthinking amateurs (as opposed to THINKING anarchists) who should be thrown up against the wall if this is one of the tipping points that secures a McCain White House.

By: cortex

cortex — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:44:34 -0800

I think that was from his memoir, Surely You're Trolling, Mr. Feynman.

By: mwhybark

mwhybark — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:44:45 -0800

AND also there is that over-the-air taped phone call from about ten years ago of a conference call involving Newt Gingrich, if you recall. The tape was turned over to Jim McDermott, a Washington state congressman (? not Senator, I think) and he released it to the media. After about ten hears of hearings and trials he was fined pretty heavily. I would guess that if the DNC was approached with something like this they would NEVER release it in any attributable way, and there is a possibility that they would just call the cops.

By: mwhybark

mwhybark — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:47:29 -0800

one of the tipping points that secures a McCain White House. Or a Palin White House.

By: TheOnlyCoolTim

TheOnlyCoolTim — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:47:43 -0800

I really, really don't believe that they've infiltrated 4chan. How To Infiltrate 4chan 1. Type http://www.4chan.org/ in address bar. 2. Press enter.

By: frenetic

frenetic — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:48:16 -0800

Here's hoping Obama uses Gmail.

By: heathkit

heathkit — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:48:49 -0800

This is outrageous. No one set up POP3 access to just grab as much email as they could? How long would that have taken?

By: pardonyou?

pardonyou? — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:49:15 -0800

one wonders if the fact that her yahoo email accounts are now deleted constitutes destruction of evidence or violations of public-records laws The Gawker article suggests that the account was closed because somebody changed the password (and then posted it), which led a ton of people to try to access the account at the same time. Yahoo apparently automatically closes the account when that happens. So based on that, it seems a bit of a stretch to claim she could be in trouble for "destruction of evidence."

By: Mister_A

Mister_A — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:51:32 -0800

...the only reason to use a service like Yahoo is to hide evidence of wrongdoing... Or if you are a fucking idiot. -Optimus Chyme Need not be either or, my friend. This is an "and" situation. Conjunctions f'täghn!

By: adipocere

adipocere — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:51:46 -0800

The idea of infiltrating Anonymous is amusing, but naive. Infiltration of Anonymous is as effective as infiltrating the set of people who are fond of the color "eggplant": you do not know who they are by looking at them, befriending them gains you little additional information, and controlling them is impossible. There's no cell network to break, just an uncoordinated mass that occasionally twitches in one wrathful direction or another for the lulz. Anonymous loves cats. But Anonymous also hates that it loves cats, so it looks for gruesome scenes of cat death and torture. I've seen better guidance systems in shrapnel. The only identifiable mechanisms are a love of humbling the arrogant and a greater hate of attempts to game it. Anonymous is Lovecraft's shoggoth, sans master, unleashed upon, well, anywhere the Internet can reach: it's gibbering, it's protean, and if you are spared its appetite for flesh, it's because something shiny has distracted it. And I kinda like it like that.

By: Greg Nog

Greg Nog — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:51:51 -0800

This is amateurish hacking. It does nothing to contribute to the political discourse. lol wut

By: rzklkng

rzklkng — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:52:38 -0800

@pardonyou - interesting thought - Palin refused the legislature's request for the emails. However, if an authorized law enforcement entity would present a subpoena for the contents, they (Yahoo) would be compelled to comply.

By: octobersurprise

octobersurprise — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:53:42 -0800

If ~~someone~~ the /b/tards had access to this, it would be ~~sold to the DNC~~ released into the wild for lots of ~~zeroes~~ LULZ That said, at the present time, I have no opinion on the authenticity of these emails.

By: burnmp3s

burnmp3s — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:54:03 -0800

I can only pray that Palin does not own a van.

By: TwelveTwo

TwelveTwo — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:54:28 -0800

And the award for lamest hack of the year goes to...

By: subbes

subbes — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:54:37 -0800

The /b/-er that got in first "allegedly panicked" and posted screenshots to /b/? That seems a strange way to panic. OH SHIT THIS MIGHT BE TREASON IF REPUBS WIN I'M IN SEROIUS TROUBLE NOW ...BETTER POST IT ON THE INTERNETS

By: Artw

Artw — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:55:20 -0800

They better fucking hope they remain anonymous, what with Palin and grudges.

By: middleclasstool

middleclasstool — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:55:44 -0800

VOTE LURK/MOAR '08

By: kaytwo

kaytwo — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:55:49 -0800

Perhaps relevant to your interests: 4chanarchive of thread on "the incident" (probably NSFW)... looks like Brad Pitt's character from "Burn After Reading" is now a meme. And again, everyone wondering how this could have possibly been "bungled," if you're really curious, just load up /b/ (NSFW x 100000), that should clear things up a bit.

By: chunking express

chunking express — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:56:08 -0800

I posted this in the current Palin thread. I didn't think it deserved its own FPP since I'm not entirely convinced it isn't a hoax.

By: ryoshu

ryoshu — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:56:42 -0800

I can only pray that Palin does not own a van. But she should get a dog.

By: Pastabagel

Pastabagel — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:57:45 -0800

Sigh. Here's how you hack a VIP's email. Upon successfully accessing someone's email account: 1. Do absolutely nothing. Now that you have the password, disconnect. 2. Go to a public access point with your laptop, like an open wifi or a library. Install Thunderbird or some similar program. Login to the email account again. Remember that the clock is ticking, and that everything you are doing is logged. Don't click around aimlessly. Sync all of the contents of the internet email account to your local computer. 2. Sync calendars and address books. Check all other services available on that account. If it's yahoo, you need to check flickr, yahoo 360, etc. for other accounts. Get the contents of those as well. When done, disconnect. Do not forward stuff from the target's email account to your email account. 3. Archive/backup the entire contents of what you dumped to (a) 5 USB sticks (b) a zip file on your hard drive. 4. Email a copy of the .pst archive or .zip archive to every major US and foreign news outlet. 5. Put the pst or zip on rapidshare, and seed it at the Pirate Bay. 6. Announce via wikileaks and wikipedia that the mailbox is at pirate bay (because you want to encourage other s to get it and seed so you can stop seeding).

By: CheshireCat

CheshireCat — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:58:12 -0800

This looks like a replay of last years embassy e-mail hacking fiasco by anonymous. (You can read about it here. Link goes to encyclopedia dramatica, which is the opposite of a reputable source, but it was a minor event and no one else stands a chance at documenting much of 4chans history.) In both cases the passwords were obtained unexpectedly and the original hacker jumped the gun in excitement and let anonymous totally screw everything up in their eagerness to play with the shiny new forbidden webspace before them. So, anonymous doing something cool and then simultaneously fucking it up is certainly not without precedent.

By: Blazecock Pileon

Blazecock Pileon — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:59:35 -0800

if they haven't, and ther's only harmless stuff, I call shenanigans. and I have to assume the campaign did it themselves to slam Obama's criminal hackers who will violate your privacy before converting you to Islam. Rove is just doing it for the lulz.

By: Astro Zombie

Astro Zombie — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:01:01 -0800

Pastabagel scares the shit out of me sometimes.

By: TwelveTwo

TwelveTwo — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:01:51 -0800

So, anonymous doing something cool and then simultaneously fucking it up is certainly not without precedent. Without precedent? You've summarized their modus operandi.

By: KokuRyu

KokuRyu — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:03:10 -0800

TEH INTERNETS MAKES ME CHORTLE W/ GLEE

By: Sidhedevil

Sidhedevil — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:03:40 -0800

Effigy2000 wrote: An interesting scenario, but one that fails given that for Putin to receive a message sent with the Reply All function, he would have either had to have sent the message calling him "a coward without the balls to use Russia's nuclear arsenal" or at the very least would already have been in on it. What? No. I think the scenario Optimus Chyme was envisioning was if Putin sent a group email that said "Greetings, my fellow world leaders! Who wants to go pub-crawling after the G8 summit?" and McCain meant to reply to Angela Merkel only with "Not me, he's a coward without..." and mistakenly hit "Reply All" rather than replying only to Merkel. Because I have seen something similar, though with "months of dirty looks in the office" as the consequence rather than "complete breakdown of detente."

By: kaibutsu

kaibutsu — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:04:48 -0800

I just infiltrated /b/. I think I lost something there. I hope I find it again.

By: cimbrog

cimbrog — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:06:22 -0800

I just infiltrated /b/. I think I lost something there. I hope I find it again. You will never, ever get it back. Trust me, I was left bloody and crying.

By: brownpau

brownpau — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:06:47 -0800

I think I lost something there. Like, a game, or something?

By: Ryvar

Ryvar — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:08:44 -0800

Here's how you hack a VIP's email. Upon successfully accessing someone's email account: 7. After the Pirate Bay torrent has at least two other seeds, shut your laptop down, take it home, open it 8. Remove the WiFi minicard (because you probably forgot to falsify your reported MAC address) and the HDD, throw them into a public dumpster 9. Place orders with manufacturer for a replacement HDD and Wifi minicard.

By: fleetmouse

fleetmouse — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:09:10 -0800

NET'S CLOSED palin_w_afro.jpg

By: butterstick

butterstick — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:09:42 -0800

I still think Anonymous is a Standalone Complex. The mob doesn't always act with masterstrokes. Maybe the geniuses didn't get involved till it was too late.

By: octobersurprise

octobersurprise — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:09:55 -0800

You've summarized their modus operandi. So I herd Sarah Palin lieks mudkipz?

By: fleetmouse

fleetmouse — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:10:11 -0800

throw them into a public dumpster *shakes head sadly* Amateurs.

By: Smedleyman

Smedleyman — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:10:15 -0800

Find Christian Singles - oooh! "but this just isn't attention worthy, save the hacking and invasion of privacy." Yeah. Point. Much as I dislike Palin - this is too close to voting with a bullet. Either you support and believe and importantly - embody in action - due process for all and equal protection under the law or - you don't. You can't be a little bit pregnant. You can't be a 'when it's critical' torturer. I think the important question is - what is this going to do to the investigation? Anyone think this is going to help it?

By: Ryvar

Ryvar — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:14:10 -0800

*shakes head sadly* Amateurs. posted by fleetmouse at 3:10 PM Actually, you're right. The Wifi card may not be personally identifiable, but the HDD probably would be.

By: chunking express

chunking express — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:15:32 -0800

Actually, you're right. The Wifi card may not be personally identifiable, but the HDD probably would be. You should just set yourself on fire after, with your computer, and hope anonymous doesn't fuck shit up.

By: butterstick

butterstick — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:16:56 -0800

Smed, I don't think privacy and transparency in government are mutually exclusive. Seems like Robin Hood territory to me.

By: Floydd

Floydd — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:17:27 -0800

Pastabagel scares the shit out of me sometimes. Actually, that comment gave me a little tingle in my happy spot.

By: cj_

cj_ — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:17:49 -0800

> Like, a game, or something? Damn you!

By: Skorgu

Skorgu — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:18:21 -0800

A summary of events (via tehloki on irc)

By: subbes

subbes — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:18:59 -0800

THE ~~CALL~~ LULZ IS COMING FROM INSIDE THE ~~HOUSE~~ POOL Srsly though, she just got more sympathetic. Unless someone has something from those accounts that is damning, this will be a "another victim of the unregulated internets" angle humanizing the campaign against "elitist" Obama who runs a fancy firewall made of pure gold and celebrity.

By: TheOnlyCoolTim

TheOnlyCoolTim — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:20:39 -0800

Pastabagel scares the shit out of me sometimes. Not paranoid enough. I'd have multiple levels of proxy/Tor indirection from the public wifi and would let others handle the torrenting after they got from Rapidshare. Along with destroying the wireless card and HDD as above and purchasing new ones WITH CASH.

By: chunking express

chunking express — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:21:56 -0800

Also, with respect to her privacy, the government issues email addresses to its employees so they can conduct state business using them. US citizens are allowed to request these emails under the freedom of information act, if i'm not mistaken. Palin was trying to get around these rules by using a personal email account to do her state business. I'd save your sympathy.

By: a robot made out of meat

a robot made out of meat — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:22:51 -0800

The problem with the wait and do stuff approach is that they used the password reset weakness to get access, so the next time palin tries to read her email she notices. At first I thought "just like /b/, what fail" but now I see it as pure amazing troll win. What would get the pulse and sweat going on GOP die-hards? Hack the newb-who's-probably-been-breaking-the-law's email. What would get the same going on liberal America so hard that it strokes out? Don't read/save the incriminating emails, go straight for pics of the kids. I can see them at home reading this thread and laughing so hard. "LULZ, they care!"

By: designbot

designbot — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:23:52 -0800

Let me get this straight. There was all kinds of potentially juicy stuff under the account gov.sarah@yahoo.com, which Sarah Palin used for her day-to-day business as governor. Almost certainly there would have been some kind of scandalous ethically-shady things on there, or else why would they need to hide it? There would have probably been correspondence discussing the firing of Trooper Wooten, an ongoing investigation which Palin has already changed her story about several times. Revealing the explosive contents of this email account could have potentially dominated the news for weeks, and forced Governor Plain to resign in shame, throwing McCain's campaign into shambles and guaranteeing 8 years of glorious peace and prosperity under an Obama administration. So these dumb-asses hack her other account? The one with goofy family pictures? And they don't even download the contents? And then they tell everyone, causing all of the information in both accounts to be deleted forever? Thereby enhancing Sarah Palin's squeaky-clean family-first image while dirtying the reputation of the Obama campaign and firing up the Republican base? Jesus. Who planned this hack? Doug Feith? Brownie? Code Pink? Just so, so lame.

By: Astro Zombie

Astro Zombie — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:24:10 -0800

Has this story shown up in the mainstream media yet? If this is legitimnately Palin's email address, and she actually deleted them, potential destroying Troopergate evidence, this seems like it would be a big deal.

By: WCityMike

WCityMike — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:25:21 -0800

If anyone did this to Obama, I'd be sequentially giving birth to about twenty cows right about now. Thus, as much as I want to cackle sinisterly and just wallow in schadenfreude, I must begrudgingly admit that this just generally sucks, even if the woman is the Seventh Spawn of Satan.

By: fourcheesemac

fourcheesemac — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:25:33 -0800

Jesus. Who planned this hack? Doug Feith? Brownie? Code Pink? Karl Rove. Take it to the bank.

By: Marisa Stole the Precious Thing

Marisa Stole the Precious Thing — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:26:03 -0800

As I said in a previous thread on this, the caps from the Yahoo account are pretty yawn-worthy, and I can't see how this significantly hurts or helps anyone. So much for "lulz". Although I appreciate the reminder, in the form of this thread and the memes spouted therein, of why I miss the chans about as much as I miss having acne.

By: fourcheesemac

fourcheesemac — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:26:42 -0800

But I appreciate Pastabagel's tips above. See, we really can affect the election from our mom's basement. HackerzR00l.

By: TheOnlyCoolTim

TheOnlyCoolTim — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:27:29 -0800

Has this story shown up in the mainstream media yet? CYBERTERRORISTS HACK PALIN'S E-MAIL, explode vans. If anyone did this to Obama, I'd be sequentially giving birth to about twenty cows right about now. I'd be just as amused, possibly more amusing depending on what was revealed.

By: Mister_A

Mister_A — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:29:14 -0800

Guardian blog says this. LOL anti-scientology group.

By: Flex1970

Flex1970 — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:29:42 -0800

I think some good hacks can win the election. This is a great start.

By: chunking express

chunking express — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:30:12 -0800

The accounts are probably auto-locked, as has been mentioned up thread and in the pastebin page. I think Yahoo does this when there are simultaneous login attempts. So it's doubtful anyone has deleted anything, but you never know.

By: maudlin

maudlin — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:31:29 -0800

Would it have killed them to post a question to AskMe first so they could get an answer like this? This community already has a track record with the hard questions. But no, they had to get advice from the people who brought you HOW IS ISP ADDRESS FORMED.

By: KokuRyu

KokuRyu — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:36:03 -0800

This has not turned up on Google News yet... Wondering if it could be a hoax?

By: Astro Zombie

Astro Zombie — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:36:39 -0800

It's starting to trcikle around. I saw something on the Dallas News and the Huffington Post.

By: Null Pointer and the Exceptions

Null Pointer and the Exceptions — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:38:02 -0800

Srsly though, she just got more sympathetic. Unless someone has something from those accounts that is damning, this will be a "another victim of the unregulated internets" angle Yeah 'cause it's perfectly legitimate to run the government from your shadow government email address.

By: butterstick

butterstick — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:38:20 -0800

If I was going to wipe out my mail account, this would be an excellent and fortuitous reason to do so.

By: Mister_A

Mister_A — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:39:32 -0800

Dudes, this is a tempest in a teapot. The only good thing about this, from a Republican standpoint, is that it may keep people from talking about John McCain for one more day. Soon, though, the media will remember that he's the guy on the top of the ticket. I think the Obama campaign is working a great rope-a-dope on the McCainiacs. They have just been absorbing the slanderous attacks with apparent indifference these last several weeks, and the attacks have become increasingly irrelevant–no one is going to be swayed by this crap anymore, it's all just red meat for the party faithful. The media have lost interest in the slime machine, and it is has just about punched itself out. Soon, Obama will let fly the straight left hand of truth, followed by the vicious right hook of personal economics (are you better off than you were eight years ago? Only if you run an oil company!) and drop poor old McCain to the canvas. People are going to remember things like the Keating Five, the S&L crisis, the bloody war in Iraq, the geometrical growth in healthcare expenditures, the cost of heating their homes, the ongoing unraveling of lending institutions... they will remember come November. And that is why this email thing is just a great national plate of beans, soon to be forgotten.

By: Blazecock Pileon

Blazecock Pileon — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:40:38 -0800

I think some good hacks can win the election. This is a great start. Like hacking Diebold machines to vote for McCain, you mean.

By: mkultra

mkultra — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:41:16 -0800

You know, Palin's people like to talk so much shit about how she's better qualified to actually run something, but conducting the corporate affairs of the public company you work for over a personal (read: unsecured) account is a fireable offense at any company at that level. This is basic stuff for any C-level exec. Didn't her buddy Carly Fiorina clue her in?

By: mannequito

mannequito — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:42:02 -0800

Who said there were no juicy emails in there? Check out this one McCain sent on the 4th: Best o' luck on the speech tonight. Campaign funds are getting low again. After you speak, keep your eyes out for that dipshit attorney from Colorado, the one who's always tweaked out on E. Looks like an easy target. But don't sell the belt! It's mine.

By: mwhybark

mwhybark — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:42:10 -0800

Hm, butterstick, that will lead media followup to try to find the /b/tard, I would think. If it's not a put-on, there is a very scared 14-year-old out there right now. I smell an ABC Movie of the Week!

By: ericb

ericb — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:43:09 -0800

This has not turned up on Google News yet... It's starting to trickle around... Yep.

By: fleetmouse

fleetmouse — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:43:18 -0800

Actually, you're right. The Wifi card may not be personally identifiable, but the HDD probably would be. image hard drive before attack, store backup in safe place after imaging, install whatever software may be necessary to change your MAC address. perform attack, distribute information remove hard drive, place in external enclosure, overwrite with Schneier 7-pass wipe restore partition image you made before attack - in Windows this will have your old MAC address in the registry no waste, no mess

By: Mister_A

Mister_A — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:44:50 -0800

~~When~~ If I need to conceal some computer-y stuff, can I call you guys?

By: PeterMcDermott

PeterMcDermott — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:44:57 -0800

So these dumb-asses hack her other account? The one with goofy family pictures? No amateur porn then?

By: East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94

East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:46:36 -0800

Lifetime presents "Press L for Lulz: The Vegeta Longcat Story"

By: Flex1970

Flex1970 — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:47:44 -0800

Jesus. Who planned this hack? Doug Feith? Brownie? Code Pink? Wait! This sucks! Neo-cons aren't that clever, are they? Tech wise?

By: kaibutsu

kaibutsu — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:48:07 -0800

Actually, running linux, it is really easy to randomize your MAC address on a day-to-day basis. I do it as a matter of policy.

By: Astro Zombie

Astro Zombie — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:49:23 -0800

Well, unless Palin deleted the account, and there is no backup at Yahoo, this demonstrates absolutely that Palin was using an external account to run government business. If I were the Troopergate prosecutors, I would be serving Yahoo with subpoenas as soon as possible, which might lead to their being public. Palin hasn't been using a back channel for communications because sh'es doing everything aboveboard, and there's a good chance, because she felt secure that this was communication she could use without oversite, she may have said things outright that she would not want made public. This could end up being very interesting.

By: fleetmouse

fleetmouse — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:50:21 -0800

Lunix? That's what hackers use! GET HIM

By: designbot

designbot — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:51:40 -0800

For those who are curious, the rapidshare file contains the exact same things that are posted on Gawker.

By: mwhybark

mwhybark — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:51:40 -0800

Mister_A, the fetishistically-enforced rules here CLEARLY state that AxMe is the venue for such queries, duh.

By: Pastabagel

Pastabagel — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:53:45 -0800

Actually, you're right. The Wifi card may not be personally identifiable, but the HDD probably would be. image hard drive before attack, store backup in safe place after imaging, install whatever software may be necessary to change your MAC address. posted by fleetmouse at 3:43 PM on September 17 Silly geese. The reason you don't need to fake the MAC address or dupe the drives is because you are going to completely destroy the computer. You hacked the email of a candidate for the Vice Presidency of the United States. If they catch you, you are going to prison forever. I think it's worth buying a shitty laptop for $500 in cash, and then running it through a wood chipper or embedding it in concrete after you've sent the emails in order to keep yourself out of prison. Once its successfully seeded on PB, you don't need the computer anymore. You don't need your drive. You have your local copies on USB sticks, so just obliterate the laptop. If you need them, I can post instructions on how to make thermite. That should do the trick, if a chipper isn't available.

By: stifford

stifford — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:53:55 -0800

ROW ROW FIGHT THE POWAH

By: crush-onastick

crush-onastick — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:56:14 -0800

The Onion apparently doesn't know that Obama's mother died some years ago.

By: mwhybark

mwhybark — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:59:00 -0800

"You hacked the email of a candidate for the Vice Presidency of the United States. If they catch you, you are going to prison forever." Ooh, this is one of the lines from the movie they show in the promo, over and over and over. I'm thinking, what, Dabney Coleman?

By: ryoshu

ryoshu — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:00:11 -0800

restore partition image you made before attack - in Windows this will have your old MAC address in the registry Have you people never heard of Linux Live CDs? Yeesh.

By: Astro Zombie

Astro Zombie — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:00:49 -0800

There was a very brief time when everyone realized how awesome Dabney Coleman is, and then promptly forgot again.

By: TheOnlyCoolTim

TheOnlyCoolTim — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:01:25 -0800

You hacked the email of a candidate for the Vice Presidency of the United States. If they catch you, you are going to prison forever. Besides that you're also at high risk for suicide or fatal single-car accident.

By: Brandon Blatcher

Brandon Blatcher — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:02:21 -0800

If cops gained evidence like this, ya'll would be horrified and demanding heads on a platter. McCain/Palin have plenty enough to legitimately nail them to the wall for. Focus on that and quit playing footsy with shit that drags the national discourse down into the gutter. If you can't apply to the spirit of America (or Bill of Rights), then you don't deserved the country.

By: mkultra

mkultra — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:02:44 -0800

mwhybark: I'm thinking, what, Dabney Coleman? I was thinking Jessica Alba, right before she takes off her glasses and lets her hair down. But that's just me.

By: Astro Zombie

Astro Zombie — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:03:14 -0800

If cops gained evidence like this, ya'll would be horrified and demanding heads on a platter. I hold cops to a higher standard than I do /b/tards.

By: Bookhouse

Bookhouse — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:03:20 -0800

This is so much less cool than I thought it would be. I was really hoping for something like: Hey, First Dude: OMG!! IM GONNA BE VP!!1!! We'd better dig up those corpses and hide them somewhere besides the back yard, huh? Google "body disposal" and buy lime, OK? Use the bribe fund in the cookie jar.

By: Harry

Harry — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:03:33 -0800

By: Flex1970

Flex1970 — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:03:55 -0800

Like hacking Diebold machines to vote for McCain, you mean. I once knew an X-ray lithographer(Hwa Rang Do studends for several years together). I would ask him about his job because he worked in a university, and I just like listening to doctors talk. I asked him if big business was ahead of science in his field. Who had the best researchers. He said the universities were always ahead, except for maybe BellLabs, back in the day. Anyway, even though the Diebold machines were put into play by conservatives, the best hackers will always be the real hackers who just want.. I really don't know what hackers want. I just can't imagine the best Neo-con hackers could out think the best of all other hackers. But I just don't know.

By: Blazecock Pileon

Blazecock Pileon — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:03:58 -0800

remove hard drive, place in external enclosure, overwrite with Schneier 7-pass wipe Wow, this really is amateur hour, and not just for Palin. Haven't you hackers read Count Zero? You get some 15-year-old wilson hotdog to jack in and do this run for you in ~~cyberspace~~ the blogosphere, and then you follow him around from the public library, until he gets knifed in a back alley by some Alaskan goths.

By: octobersurprise

octobersurprise — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:06:18 -0800

Srsly though, she just got more sympathetic. That's because everything that happens makes her more sympathetic. Sarah Palin gets run down in the street? Instant sympathy, because, you know, wow, she may never walk again--dude, that's some FDR shit right there. Sarah Palin runs down someone in the street? Also instant sympathy, because, gee, she runs down people in the street, just like any other American schmuck in their goddamn monster truck that's too goddamn big to drive. Yeah,! That's more than instant sympathy--that's MEGA instant sympathy--that's America, baby! Plus, you know, she is kinda broken up about the goddamn bum--I mean unemployed Mexican on his way home his third job that she hit and while she's certainly going to write a check to his family, or la familia as those people say, she's not going to let any personal tragedy get in the way of her struggle, even if her husband is a recovering alcoholic and her children are pregnant, a quality, her own quality, something almost like her own special fragrance, just like that Enjoli commercial about pans and frying bacon and moose and what the fuck christ these mosquitoes would carry off a baby have you ever seen the friggin' like? And he said "That must be 'cause your so sweet." Sweet. Like that Sarah Palin. Like that basketball girl. Shit. Is something burning in the oven?

By: koeselitz

koeselitz — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:07:33 -0800

Pastabagel: Here's how you hack a VIP's email. Upon successfully accessing someone's email account... Heh. See, you didn't even describe the fun part - the part where somebody got Sarah Palin's email password. I won't say precisely how I'm sure that was done. I'll only say that there's a certain snowmobiling world champion who can't hold his liquor nearly as well as an Alaskan man is supposed to and who has an embarrassing weakness for chocolate ice cream.

By: tapeguy

tapeguy — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:12:50 -0800

I love how this story on how hacking affects the political process will be reported on for days to come but this one won't.

By: Mayor West

Mayor West — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:14:28 -0800

If you need them, I can post instructions on how to make thermite. Ohmygod, please do this. I can see the headlines now when some enterprising Fox News flak discovers this thread, reads the comments, completely fails to grok Anonymous, and then somehow gets linked back to some of our other how-to's. If I hear the words "MetaFilter" and "terrorist training ground" in the same sentence, my quest will be over.

By: mwhybark

mwhybark — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:14:32 -0800

...I was thinking Jessica Alba... Oh, I could see that, but not her line, no way. She's the seekrit assassin who ends up saving the /b/tard. And in this movie, there's no way Tina Fey is playing Palin, but I can't... quite... cast it yet. Little help?

By: DU

DU — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:16:28 -0800

I can post instructions on how to make thermite. No need.

By: dersins

dersins — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:18:12 -0800

OMG!! IM GONNA BE VP!!1!! We'd better dig up those corpses and hide them somewhere besides the back yard, huh? Google "body disposal" and buy lime, OK? MAYBE WE SHOULD HIRE THIS "SCARABIC" GUY LOL!!1~!

By: delmoi

delmoi — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:19:24 -0800

I figured these would come out pretty soon.

By: DU

DU — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:19:42 -0800

So...is there anything good in these emails? Or don't we know yet? (Like I'm gonna read them myself...)

By: Justinian

Justinian — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:19:59 -0800

The problem with the wait and do stuff approach is that they used the password reset weakness to get access, so the next time palin tries to read her email she notices. This doesn't match my understanding of what happened. From what I gather, somebody guessed Palin's password. That her password was "popcorn". Yes. You heard me right. It scares me that the next VP and possibly president would be about as up on information security as a typical 13 year old girl with a myspace account.

By: birdherder

birdherder — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:20:07 -0800

Am I the only one who thinks this is just not very nice at all? Not as much for Palin herself, as she is a government figure and should have conducted her communication via official means (or at least secure her communication properly if it had been deemed private). But having family pictures and contact info leaked like this, that's not cool. I think especially her daughters wouldn't be very happy with phone numbers and personal photos getting into the hands of internet weirdos. Basically, this probably has near zero impact on the campaign, while simultaneously violating the privacy of Palin's family. LOL, indeed. Had Palin used her @alaska.gov email for her official government duties like she should have, her yahoo accounts would not have made the news and the /b/tards wouldn't have hacked the account. They did this for the lulz because they got a public figure's yahoo email address and realized it would be easy to get into the account. This is closer to hacking Paris Hilton's t-mobile account than it is a political scandal. I doubt the /b/tards had political as they probably don't care about Palin other than she's famous and they could get into her account. This is why I think we see the snapshots of the kids and mundane stuff rather than smoking guns. Sure her kids get fallout from this, but that can happen when your mom tries to get around open records laws by using her personal account for state business. I just wonder if she paid the $20 or whatever it is for a Yahoo Mail Plus so there wouldn't be the "Do you Yahoo?" and other text ads at the bottom of her mail.

By: mandal

mandal — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:21:14 -0800

Sigh. Here's how you hack a VIP's email... Too complicated, let's start afresh: 1. Roofie Gabriel Schwartz and fire up his laptop...

By: koeselitz

koeselitz — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:21:20 -0800

yeoz: one wonders if the fact that her yahoo email accounts are now deleted constitutes destruction of evidence or violations of public-records laws. Okay, now, at first I just assumed this was Republican diversionary tactics a la the Sarah Palin banned book list. However, assuming this is true, this is just absolutely silly. Deleting emails which are being publicly accessed is never destruction of evidence. Anyone who's not an idiot knows that Yahoo! will easily have those records and be able to deliver them if subpoenaed. Moreover, whomever deleted that knew that it had gotten out all over, and thus could assume that copies still existed. Finally, they'd be stupid not to make a copy of it themselves, even if they did hide said copy. 'Destruction of evidence' and 'removal of personal information from public view' are not the same thing. If somebody actually did this (I'm still not assuming they did) then they did a stupid thing, a thing which will almost certainly be a negative from the point of view of the Obama camp, which has struggled to run a campaign based on what their candidate thinks and whether he'd make a good president rather than who can appear more honorable. The trouble with the latter kind of campaign, the kind of campaign that McCain and Salter seem to be running, is that it's just about baiting the opposing side into saying something mean and pouncing whenever it says something that can be construed as such.

By: PROD_TPSL

PROD_TPSL — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:21:30 -0800

Tapeguy... that is disturbing in the least. At worst, it's criminal.

By: butterstick

butterstick — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:21:35 -0800

Brandon Blatcher: If you can't apply to the spirit of America (or Bill of Rights), then you don't deserved the country. Shining some sunlight on an elected official who is willfully (and possibly illegally) obfuscating governance that should be part of the public record seems pretty patriotic to me. Harry: But having family pictures and contact info leaked like this, that's not cool. I think especially her daughters wouldn't be very happy with phone numbers and personal photos getting into the hands of internet weirdos. I totally agree, but the phone numbers did provide one of the only ways to authenticate this as legit. Sucks though.

By: davejay

davejay — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:22:24 -0800

Here's how you hack a VIP's email. Upon successfully accessing someone's email account: Excerpt from next week's article about the people arrested: "...using the pseudonym PastaBagel, even went so far as to incriminate themselves by posting step-by-step instructions for the hack on an underground website called Metafilter, where the incident was being discussed at length."

By: koeselitz

koeselitz — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:23:20 -0800

And, obviously, emails aren't public records.

By: Pronoiac

Pronoiac — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:23:32 -0800

I don't remember Yahoo offering free POP3 with the free version. I had to use software like YPOPs or FreePOPs. The current administration was doing something similar, with an "unofficial" server set up with a nudge & a wink, & then they suddenly lost everything, including backups, when it attracted attention. On preview: Wow, this thread is moving quickly. It's worth noting that Gmail offers a secure connection for everything, where Yahoo just offers it for logon.

By: DU

DU — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:24:18 -0800

But having family pictures and contact info leaked like this, that's not cool. Boo fucking hoo. Tell it to the thousands of women who will be disfigured, killed or subjugated if Palin has any influence on the next SCOTUS nominee(s). They'll have familial problems that dwarf any momentary embarassment Bristol Palin experiences due to her dumbass, technophobe, theocrat of a mother.

By: Pronoiac

Pronoiac — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:25:34 -0800

Er, previously. I didn't think I'd find it so easily. Thanks, tags!

By: butterstick

butterstick — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:29:06 -0800

DU: That's an imaginary argument and you know it. It's still not cool. They could've published the emails and hidden personal info.

By: Astro Zombie

Astro Zombie — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:29:37 -0800

What was found in Palin's email? What potentially deadly Palin detail? Did she spend time in a Tennessee jail? Does she take her bribes in the form of free ale? Does she dine on the flesh of endangered sea whale? Does she bury her dead along a ski trail? Is she the one that made the economy fail? Is it true that Ann Coulter is a she-male? Tell us, tell us, tell us please: What forged documents, what faked degrees? What scandals revealed? What evil decrees? What? Photos of her children? Nothing else? Tease.

By: Blazecock Pileon

Blazecock Pileon — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:29:56 -0800

And, obviously, emails aren't public records. This is generally false. State government emails are generally on public record. Which gets to the heart of the controversy, in that Palin may have tried to violate open access laws by keeping her public correspondence off the record.

By: emelenjr

emelenjr — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:30:46 -0800

mwhybark: If not Tina Fey, how about Sally Field?

By: mwhybark

mwhybark — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:30:52 -0800

That's the spirit, AZ. But I maintain this is NO MUSICAL!

By: neroli

neroli — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:31:14 -0800

This is going to be a lot less funny when the Republican start blaming the Obama campaign and yelling Watergate. And people believe them. Really, this was a moronic thing to do, and there is no way to justify it.

By: lunit

lunit — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:31:20 -0800

This incident aside, I go back and forth about what I think about Anonymous. But don't be fooled. They aren't activists; they're outlaws.

By: mwhybark

mwhybark — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:33:21 -0800

SALLY FIELD, exactly! So who's the kid? And are we shooting in 1989 or now? Now I guess, If Alba's in there. Hm....

By: ryoshu

ryoshu — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:33:42 -0800

I just wonder if she paid the $20 or whatever it is for a Yahoo Mail Plus so there wouldn't be the "Do you Yahoo?" and other text ads at the bottom of her mail. Does Yahoo! do contextual ads in their email? If so, I'd lurrrrv to see some of the ads. 70% off hot snowmachine sex!!!

By: Astro Zombie

Astro Zombie — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:34:07 -0800

They aren't activists; they're outlaws. Hm. I've never known there to be a clear distinction between the two.

By: Brandon Blatcher

Brandon Blatcher — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:38:11 -0800

Shining some sunlight on an elected official who is willfully (and possibly illegally) obfuscating governance that should be part of the public record seems pretty patriotic to me. Absolutely, but doing it in this manner taints what is found. Someone could find all sorts of dirt on you by hacking your email, but if they did that, what would does that say about them? How far are you willing to go with this, allowing illegal things to be done in the name of justice?

By: Sidhedevil

Sidhedevil — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:38:42 -0800

It's one of those things like "I'm assertive; you're aggressive; he's an asshole." So "I'm an activist; you're an outlaw; LOCK THOSE PEOPLE THE FUCK UP" is the progression with this stuff, I guess.

By: enn

enn — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:40:14 -0800

And, obviously, emails aren't public records. They certainly are at the federal level (under FOIA). I don't know anything about Alaska's open records laws, but here in Illinois the state FOIA covers email.

By: cj_

cj_ — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:43:06 -0800

> This doesn't match my understanding of what happened. From what I gather, somebody guessed Palin's password. That her password was "popcorn". Yes. You heard me right. Your understanding is wrong. They reset it by guessing the security questions, which are easy to answer for a public figure. This means she wouldn't be able to get into her account the next time she tried. It's fairly pedestrian. Guessing a password is only something you see in the movies and on brute-force dictionary attacks on systems that don't have a lock-out policy (which Yahoo almost certainly does).

By: cashman

cashman — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:43:56 -0800

Why hasn't this news hit the front page of Yahoo yet?

By: Marisa Stole the Precious Thing

Marisa Stole the Precious Thing — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:45:12 -0800

It scares me that the next VP and possibly president would be about as up on information security as a typical 13 year old girl with a myspace account. This. And I'd like to ammend Pastabagel's comment. What you actually need to do is get a box of dynamite and rig it up under a xylophone, with the detonator under one key in particular. Then, when she goes to play "Those Endearing Young Charms", she'll hit that note at the end of the first measure and explode. But be careful - she may purposefully hit a false note a couple times just to frustrate you into rushing on stage and showing her how to play it right, thus exploding yourself instead. So think ahead!

By: TheOnlyCoolTim

TheOnlyCoolTim — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:46:23 -0800

So...is there anything good in these emails? Or don't we know yet? (Like I'm gonna read them myself...) Not much is released and unfortunately what is isn't that interesting. (I've seen the Wikileaks and Gawker files, and Gawker is supposed to be the same as the Rapidshare linked here). I think the biggest thing from this current leak is solid confirmation that she's trying to hide from the public record by using Yahoo - her address book even has a second "Firstname McLastname PERSONAL" address for anyone with an alaska.gov address.

By: butterstick

butterstick — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:47:06 -0800

Someone could find all sorts of dirt on you by hacking your email, but if they did that, what would does that say about them? How far are you willing to go with this, allowing illegal things to be done in the name of justice? This is not a slippery slope. I am defending this one particular incident, so any other "illegal things" implied are imaginary. Even so, Anonymous has fairly clearly demarcated the boundaries of their activism in the past, and their lawbreaking is fairly minor. It's actually pretty impressive considering their amorphous nature. And even though I think this is cool, it's still amateur hour.

By: cortex

cortex — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:48:10 -0800

How far are you willing to go with this, allowing illegal things to be done in the name of justice? Great, Batman the thread why doncha.

By: Astro Zombie

Astro Zombie — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:49:15 -0800

I draw the line at the cell phone eavesdropping thing. Batman should never have done that.

By: lunit

lunit — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:49:25 -0800

They aren't activists; they're outlaws. Hm. I've never known there to be a clear distinction between the two. Tom Robbins could explain it to you.

By: Pastabagel

Pastabagel — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:49:44 -0800

"...using the pseudonym PastaBagel, even went so far as to incriminate themselves by posting step-by-step instructions for the hack on an underground website called Metafilter, where the incident was being discussed at length." posted by davejay at 4:22 PM on September 17 19 hours of recorded audio and the contents of three safety deposit boxes in two countries say I get acquitted.

By: cimbrog

cimbrog — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:51:06 -0800

It's one of those things like "I'm assertive; you're aggressive; he's an asshole." So "I'm an activist; you're an outlaw; LOCK THOSE PEOPLE THE FUCK UP" is the progression with this stuff, I guess. When it comes to anonymous, it is less a question of action than a question of motivation. This is one of the best descriptions of anonymous I have ever read. Activists are generally motivated by some shared belief or value - anonymous is in it for the lulz.

By: designbot

designbot — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:51:34 -0800

From what I gather, somebody guessed Palin's password. That her password was "popcorn". Yes. You heard me right. I believe they reset her password, which only requires a birthday and zip code. I just wonder if she paid the $20 or whatever it is for a Yahoo Mail Plus so there wouldn't be the "Do you Yahoo?" and other text ads at the bottom of her mail. No, she didn't.

By: cortex

cortex — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:52:20 -0800

He wasn't eavesdropping. He was justicedropping.

By: Mister_A

Mister_A — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:55:17 -0800

WWBD? Punch her in the face and throw her off a building, something like that.

By: Blazecock Pileon

Blazecock Pileon — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:56:46 -0800

I draw the line at the cell phone eavesdropping thing. Batman should never have done that. Exactly. I was totally buying the special effects up until that point. That cheesy echo effect totally ruined the movie.

By: The Power Nap

The Power Nap — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:57:57 -0800

Hmmm, The question now is how to weponize /b/. Some have made the claim that /b/tards in and of themselves are chaos incarnate, that the only constant is hate, and that they are cyber leukocyte which feeds on second order simulacra and schadenfreude. This collective, this abberation, cannot be directed. Any person who attemps to take the helm will be consumed, and their remains will be 'capshund'. No, the only way to game the higher order of madness that is /b/ is to make a target more apealing. This in and of itself is a daunting task for /b/'s un-mind can sniff this bait out easily, for it secretes this on an hourly basis. It seems that the best way to exert control over /b/ is to play the role of a modified arms dealer. If you want a target destroyed, you must set up an opposing organization and seed /b/ with the tools to destroy them both. It seems that the best way to exert control over /b/ It seems the best to exert control It seems the best the best

By: mwhybark

mwhybark — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:58:19 -0800

I never realized what the /b/ stood for before.

By: TheOnlyCoolTim

TheOnlyCoolTim — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:01:21 -0800

anonymous is in it for the lulz. Anonymous is also sometimes in it for great justice, such as with their attacks on Scientology and white supremacist Hal Turner. With Scientology there was a backlash and Anonymous is now by parts both Anti-Scientology and Anti-Anti-Scientology, though not Pro-Scientology.

By: kirkaracha

kirkaracha — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:07:12 -0800

overlap the 'vetting' period Please, what vetting "period"? It was two quick meetings and a phone call. I've gone on dates with more "vetting." What you actually need to do is get a box of dynamite and rig it up under a xylophone, with the detonator under one key in particular. That happened in an election back in dickety-six. I saw a documentary about it.

By: everichon

everichon — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:08:13 -0800

Persons of /b/, ppl. Please.

By: aramaic

aramaic — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:09:22 -0800

dickety-six Aww dammit. Is the Kaiser back? Again? Well, time to run out the Irish I guess. We'll probably hang more than a few.

By: ColdChef

ColdChef — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:09:34 -0800

I'm fairly certain that AstroZombie is the reanimated corpse of Shel Silverstein.

By: Marisa Stole the Precious Thing

Marisa Stole the Precious Thing — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:11:39 -0800

The hyperinflated aggrandizement of Anonymous keeps getting better and better. Yes, it's a Lovecraftian ubermonster ... which also hacked the wrong e-mail account, conducted a laughable failure of a phishing raid of MySpace, posts screencaps of pool-blocking at Habbo Hotel, and Scientology appears to be doing just fine. I know /b/tards enjoy speaking of themselves in sweeping, sociopolitical terms, but let's keep things in perspective before we attribute these kids with the power to bend space and time.

By: Mister_A

Mister_A — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:11:43 -0800

You would know, ColdChef.

By: Mister_A

Mister_A — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:12:49 -0800

People with /b/tardism, Marisa STPT.

By: Marisa Stole the Precious Thing

Marisa Stole the Precious Thing — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:16:15 -0800

People with /b/tardism, Marisa STPT. Shit, I'm sorry. And just Marisa is fine.

By: quin

quin — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:16:30 -0800

Pastabagel : The reason you don't need to fake the MAC address or dupe the drives is because you are going to completely destroy the computer. Exactly. $200 cash for a Thinkpad from the flea market, do the deed, disassemble, thermite. If there is any truth to this at all, it should almost immediately disqualify her from eligibility; she left potentially sensitive government information on a public server which she was neither an administrator of, or capable of accessing the logs to. This is some rookie bush-league shit right here, it's the kind of thing that would get you fired from most corporations. Actually, would this be a violation of Sarbanes Oxley, or does that only apply to corporate environments?

By: ColdChef

ColdChef — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:16:42 -0800

You would know, ColdChef. Okay. I admit it. I killed Shel Silverstein. I cut him up limb by limb and then I sat on the stump of his body until he finally stopped twitching.

By: Brandon Blatcher

Brandon Blatcher — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:17:23 -0800

This is not a slippery slope. Ok, then don't complain when the other side pulls "slightly" illegal stuff. I was totally buying the special effects up until that point. That cheesy echo effect totally ruined the movie. That and the speeches at the end which suddenly turned the film into a grade school soapbox drama.

By: Artw

Artw — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:22:21 -0800

It's just aluminium powder and iron filings isn' it? I knew that in school!

By: Artw

Artw — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:23:11 -0800

Just wait for teh shitty sequel where Harvey Dent isn't dead.

By: ericb

ericb — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:23:11 -0800

The AP has the story -- Hackers claim break-in to Palin's e-mail account.

By: ericb

ericb — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:24:14 -0800

"'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."

By: ericb

ericb — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:26:15 -0800

BTW -- the AP story breaks down what Todd Palin's e-mail handle ( "fek9wnr") means:

"'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."

By: Brandon Blatcher

Brandon Blatcher — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:26:27 -0800

Just wait for teh shitty sequel where Harvey Dent isn't dead. I got the feeling they were pushing Gordon's son to be Robin and the wormy Wayne employee who wanted to out Batman to be the Penguin.

By: mwhybark

mwhybark — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:27:06 -0800

CC, that is waaaay out past the end of the sidewalk, buddy.

By: Optimus Chyme

Optimus Chyme — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:28:02 -0800

The Secret Service contacted The Associated Press on Wednesday and asked for copies of the leaked e-mails Jesus fucking Christ, our MIBs are incompetent, too? Hey, genius, the emails are on the internet. Stop at a fucking Starbucks and fire up your laptop.

By: strangeleftydoublethink

strangeleftydoublethink — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:28:40 -0800

"'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." So wnr stands for wiener?

By: ericb

ericb — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:28:54 -0800

Iron Dog Weiner!

By: geoff.

geoff. — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:29:04 -0800

Hey Sarah, You don't me. Well I tried to get in touch with you but you kind of blew me off. Remember the first day you took office you had me come in and set you up on a wireless mouse? You also complained to me about having to change your password every 3 months. Oh and remember when you told me that the whole number and special character thing in the password was stupid? And to make it easier? Oh also a couple months later you somehow disabled the antivirus and installed WeatherBug and another program that promised you free movies to your desktop. I still don't know how you did that, because I had come in and install Adobe Acrobat for you, but good job on getting around that one. Remember you were complaining the computer was slow? And I needed to "speed up the network." You probably still don't really remember me, I mean you joked to your colleagues that the weird nerd was working on your computer. I don't watch Star Trek so I didn't get that joke you kept making, and yes I heard Weird Al's White and Nerdy. You don't have to play it on Youtube for me. Oh yeah I was also the one you called when you said you couldn't login and you called from the break room? And I had to wait until you got back to your desk? And when you got back to your desk you were logged in and I had no idea what you were talking about and you got angry. Yeah I think you meant your Yahoo account. I told you that you shouldn't use Yahoo. I even sent an e-mail with high priority. I told other people, but they were your friends and of ignored me. Anyway I have a feeling I'll somehow get blamed for this one. I totally pissed all over the floor of your bathroom when you had me come over to fix your kid's computer. Yeah it was on a Saturday, yeah I had things going on but you told me it was an emergency. Well fuck you, you should have listened to me. Sincerely, Alaska IT Dept.

By: ericb

ericb — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:29:27 -0800

Jinx. strangeleftydoublethink, you owe me a Coke!

By: geoff.

geoff. — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:29:35 -0800

You don't me. Damn keyboard. I need to call up IT ...

By: Floydd

Floydd — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:30:19 -0800

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. "Hi, AP? This is Jimbo from the Secret Service. How ya doin? Say, you got those Palin emails everybody's been talking about? You know, the ones from Yahoo? No? Huh. I guess we're SOL then. So, are the Brewers management smoking crack or what? Sheesh!"

By: ericb

ericb — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:30:22 -0800

But, at least strangeleftydoublethink you spelled "wiener" properly.

By: Kattullus

Kattullus — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:31:05 -0800

The screenshots were just trophies. Hacker got in, thought he was teh shiznitz, made screengrabs to prove that he did it and posted them. It's the exact same thing hackers have been doing since you had to dial into bulletin boards.

By: autodidact

autodidact — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:31:44 -0800

If this is real it'll be cool that a VP Candidate is running Steam... I wonder if I've fragged Sarah Palin in TF2?

By: Justinian

Justinian — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:31:45 -0800

Your understanding is wrong. /b/ HAS LET ME DOWN? NO!

By: Blazecock Pileon

Blazecock Pileon — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:31:56 -0800

Ok, then don't complain when the other side pulls "slightly" illegal stuff. What seems more important is if Palin broke the law by using the Yahoo! Mail service to circumvent disclosure laws, which is more than "slightly" illegal -- it is illegal, through and through, and we have already seen the consequences of this with Bush, Cheney and the Justice Department administering political cover-ups through this type of behavior.

By: autodidact

autodidact — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:31:57 -0800

Or DEFCON! Haha

By: spaceman_spiff

spaceman_spiff — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:32:32 -0800

Too complicated, let's start afresh: 1. Roofie Gabriel Schwartz and fire up his laptop... I think you have those in the wrong order ...

By: turgid dahlia

turgid dahlia — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:40:54 -0800

Posting in epic thread.

By: autodidact

autodidact — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:41:28 -0800

I am retarded. Nevermind.

By: krautland

krautland — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:41:44 -0800

I've said it before and I say it again - this time in fucking bold: Palin is the new Eagleton. yehaw. I can't wait for the sunday talkshows to get these.

By: clearly

clearly — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:44:26 -0800

I wonder if I've fragged Sarah Palin in TF2? I teabagged Sarah Palin after I sniped her in the face on Halo 3 matchmaking the other night.

By: Astro Zombie

Astro Zombie — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:45:27 -0800

I guess my question is, if she set up these emails to do government business -- which is supposed to be done on a publicly available email account, which she was attempting to circumvent -- them has a crime actually been committed? Or have documents that were already supposed to be public, but were surpressed, simply been made public?

By: kingbenny

kingbenny — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:48:28 -0800

Kinda like that Palin name generator: Iron Dog Wiener Palin.

By: Astro Zombie

Astro Zombie — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:48:38 -0800

And, further, we don't get into a big fuss when whistleblowers walk off with their employers documents and make them public. How is this significantly different?

By: ericb

ericb — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:48:47 -0800

If there is any truth to this at all, it should almost immediately disqualify her from eligibility; she left potentially sensitive government information on a public server which she was neither an administrator of, or capable of accessing the logs to. This is some rookie bush-league shit right here... You got that right. *Bush* league, indeed! Four more years! Four more years!

By: iamabot

iamabot — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:00:11 -0800

One wonders how long it takes the /b/ folks to dive in to the accounts of people in Governor Palin's address book.

By: acro

acro — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:00:58 -0800

Happy constitution day!

By: Artw

Artw — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:01:17 -0800

Enter a password, click submit, then we'll score it against best practices! > "fek9wnr" To increase the strength of your password, consider one or more of the following: Increasing the length of your password to 8 or more chatacters. Using uppercase chracters in your password. Using special characters in your password. It'd still be better than "hello", "moose" or "gov.sarah".

By: infinitywaltz

infinitywaltz — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:02:46 -0800

Who's Sarah Palin?

By: clever sheep

clever sheep — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:07:18 -0800

Word, iamabot. My very *first* thought after grasping the details was wondering if Ivy Frye herself... or any other staffers... had already been pwned, and we just don't know about it yet. Frank Bailey, Mr. Troopergate subpoena, I'm looking at YOU.

By: quin

quin — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:09:46 -0800

"fek9wnr" I'll admit that this to mean "Iron Dog Winner" is actually quite clever, but unfortunately, the combination of those letters, in that order, and my years of reading LOLcat captions, renders this "Fek 9 wieners", and no, I'd prefer not to be fecked by nine wieners, thank you so very much.

By: desjardins

desjardins — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:11:43 -0800

This is pretty much just rubbernecking at this point.

By: graventy

graventy — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:13:02 -0800

"fek9wnr" He.. he PAYS for this license plate.

By: LobsterMitten

LobsterMitten — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:15:54 -0800

Doesn't this give her a perfect defense for tech-ignorant investigators? For anything untoward in the account can't she now say "oh those tewwibwe hackews put it thewe"?

By: ryoshu

ryoshu — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:18:40 -0800

Posting in a septic bread.

By: TheOnlyCoolTim

TheOnlyCoolTim — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:19:21 -0800

No, because the hackers cannot have placed month-old e-mails in there. This is pretty much just rubbernecking at this point. Palin is a damn train wreck, so it fits.

By: strangeleftydoublethink

strangeleftydoublethink — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:21:04 -0800

He.. he PAYS for this license plate. He might be a fan of this: fek9wnr.

By: everichon

everichon — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:22:28 -0800

"Posing Insect" Ed A lesser-known person with hoboness.

By: rokusan

rokusan — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:23:25 -0800

You missed the important steps: (8) Pick up Mom from Burning Man. (9) Remove front seat from Honda CRX (10) Buy "Veeped: The Art of Hacking E-Mail Accounts" book at Borders. (11) Hose off driveway for three hours ... Etc. Fill in your own blanks. Amateurs.

By: rokusan

rokusan — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:24:21 -0800

No, because the hackers cannot have placed month-old e-mails in there. Yeah. I can't even imagine the level of mad skills that would be needed to place month-old dates in a screenshot.

By: illiad

illiad — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:24:42 -0800

It's just aluminium powder and iron filings isn' it? I knew that in school! It's igniting the aluminum that's a problem. You need a hhhhOT flame. Get a magnesium strip, light that, then light the Al. And don't forget to not look at the lit magnesium. The UV will fry your retinas.

By: ymgve

ymgve — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:28:21 -0800

Sigh. Here's how you hack a VIP's email. Upon successfully accessing someone's email account: 1. Do absolutely nothing. Now that you have the password, disconnect. And anything you do after this point will be useless, because you STILL are the first contact point in their logs. In reality, if you are going to attempt something like this, do all the other steps first.

By: joaquim

joaquim — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:29:33 -0800

renders this "Fek 9 wieners" Hmm. I read it as Fake 9" Wiener, aka The Big Dildo.

By: TheOnlyCoolTim

TheOnlyCoolTim — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:31:18 -0800

Yeah. I can't even imagine the level of mad skills that would be needed to place month-old dates in a screenshot. If you place them in a screenshot Yahoo doesn't have them.

By: Exchequer

Exchequer — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:31:42 -0800

Hello Members of 4Chan.org. The FBI in conjunction with Secret Service and DOJ is requesting records of IP and posting information from the administrators of this site. We are offering a limited time offer of limited immunity to those who confess to the recent hacking of Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin's Yahoo email account. Those who step forward with evidence will be treated leniently, while the full force of law will be applied to those captured at a later date. You may turn yourself in via report to The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) [ http://www.ic3.gov/] or you may call your local FBI office or call (202) 278-2000 and ask to be directed to Special Agent Henry Stewart at Bureau HQ in Washington, DC.

By: illiad

illiad — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:34:38 -0800

We are offering a limited time offer of limited immunity to those who confess to the recent hacking of Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin's Yahoo email account. Say nothing to the authorities. Get a lawyer first, then if you want, call them. Otherwise the law will walk alllll over you and you'll be doing time in a cell with large, unpleasant men who seek "company" at night.

By: butterstick

butterstick — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:34:44 -0800

I guess my question is, if she set up these emails to do government business -- which is supposed to be done on a publicly available email account, which she was attempting to circumvent -- them has a crime actually been committed? IANAL, but yes. At the very least it's a DMCA violation, but more likely a criminal interstate telco statute has been violated. And, further, we don't get into a big fuss when whistleblowers walk off with their employers documents and make them public. How is this significantly different? Whistleblowers are internal. They often break the law (or at least their NDAs) when they act, but they also are inherently authenticated due to a publicly verifiable internal position. That to me is the big difference; I have no idea if these are authentic or not, and had they not included verified cellphone numbers, I would be assuming a hoax. 2¢

By: butterstick

butterstick — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:36:14 -0800

You may turn yourself in via report to The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) [ http://www.ic3.gov/] or you may call your local FBI office or call (202) 278-2000 and ask to be directed to Special Agent Henry Stewart at Bureau HQ in Washington, DC. IT'S A TRAP!

By: kirkaracha

kirkaracha — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:38:15 -0800

Get a magnesium strip, light that, then light the Al. I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

By: diablo37

diablo37 — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:40:21 -0800

I think that was from his memoir, Surely You're Trolling, Mr. Feynman. wish I could favorite this twice.

By: jamstigator

jamstigator — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:42:32 -0800

I'm guessing FBI Special Agent Henry Stewart is staring at his unringing phone right about now, bored shitless, and wanting to watch some internet porn. I mean INVESTIGATE some internet porn, sorry.

By: Artw

Artw — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:42:56 -0800

Get a magnesium strip, light that, then light the Al. I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure. LAZOR BEAMS!!!

By: Smart Dalek

Smart Dalek — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:43:32 -0800

(Hwa Rang Do studends for several years together) You may want to consider going back for a few more classes.

By: Science!

Science! — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:44:02 -0800

Exchequer: "Hello Members of 4Chan.org. The FBI in conjunction with Secret Service and DOJ is requesting records of IP and posting information from the administrators of this site. We are offering a limited time offer of limited immunity to those who confess to the recent hacking of Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin's Yahoo email account. Those who step forward with evidence will be treated leniently, while the full force of law will be applied to those captured at a later date. You may turn yourself in via report to The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) [ http://www.ic3.gov/] or you may call your local FBI office or call (202) 278-2000 and ask to be directed to Special Agent Henry Stewart at Bureau HQ in Washington, DC." Was this really posted, by 4chan staff or what?

By: sdodd

sdodd — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:46:18 -0800

$ whois fek9wnr.com

Whois Server Version 2.0

Domain names in the .com and .net domains can now be registered
with many different competing registrars. Go to http://www.internic.net
for detailed information.

No match for "FEK9WNR.COM".
>>> Last update of whois database: Wed, 17 Sep 2008 18:43:32 EDT <<<

By: Exchequer

Exchequer — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:46:32 -0800

Posted on 4chan today, by Anonymous...

By: desjardins

desjardins — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:47:22 -0800

Palin is a damn train wreck This is probably so compelling to me because a) I got rid of cable and b) work is really slow right now.

By: Science!

Science! — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:47:54 -0800

Exchequer: "Posted on 4chan today, by Anonymous..." So it was that annoying 12 year old who lives across the street.

By: Exchequer

Exchequer — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:50:05 -0800

Here's where it's posted, in case anyone wanted to see the OP. Dubious, certainly, but fun, nonetheless.

By: Smedleyman

Smedleyman — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:51:32 -0800

"Sure her kids get fallout from this, but that can happen when your mom tries to get around open records laws by using her personal account for state business." There's the rub. How do you know - know - she's getting around open records laws and not just using - this particular - personal account for personal stuff, unless you hack the account? "And, further, we don't get into a big fuss when whistleblowers walk off with their employers documents and make them public. How is this significantly different?" They know for certain a crime has been committed. They have seen evidence of that crime and already have access to it. They take the evidence of that crime to the authorities. This is a politically purposed break in. We got into a big fuss when Nixon sent people to break in and swipe political info from the Dems. How is this significantly different (in form I mean, given it hasn't come from any political official, but b/) from Watergate? If it were someone in the loop somewhere - some office guy who got a message from this account saying "do 'x'" and he knows the law and he gave it to the authorities - solid. This? Not so much. "Tell it to the thousands of women who will be disfigured, killed or subjugated if Palin has any influence on the next SCOTUS nominee(s)." Totally. Nothing is out of bounds as long as you do it to an evil person. Hey, I'm pretty handy with firearms. I could just go kill her, right? The hell with the means, as long as the ends are just. "'They aren't activists; they're outlaws.' 'I've never known there to be a clear distinction between the two.'" Activists violate the law in selfless pursuit of principle, it is a sacrifice. Outlaws selfishly violate the law without regard to principle. Of course, all that with the caviat that this is 'meh' level stuff. I mean, the secret service is going to *cough* investigate. blah blah blah. Life goes on. It is a minor thing (unless "the goods" are out there somewhere). But otherwise it is what it is. It's not something else because of who it happened to.

By: strangeleftydoublethink

strangeleftydoublethink — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 16:00:19 -0800

oh anonymous, what will you do next Dear Ask Metafilter, A friend of mine recently hacked the email of a fairly well-known person. He didn't do much, just took some screenshots. But it has become a big deal now. He's not sure what to do because he had heated up some leftover chicken right before posting his screenshots and never got around to eating it. It has been several hours since and he's wondering if it's OK to eat the chicken.

By: Smedleyman

Smedleyman — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 16:05:38 -0800

"I'm guessing FBI Special Agent Henry Stewart is staring at his unringing phone right about now, bored shitless, and wanting to watch some internet porn" Nah, that's unrealistic. FBI Agents all have odd first name/object - occasionally alliterative or pseuo-alliterative single syllable names like Stan Pecan, Gary Glass, Ross Rice, Rex Tomb, Mike Mason, etc. So FBI Special Agent Jim Book is sitting watching internet porn.

By: An Infinity Of Monkeys

An Infinity Of Monkeys — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 16:12:22 -0800

"Dear Ask Metafilter, A friend of mine recently hacked the email of a fairly well-known person. He didn't do much, just took some screenshots. But it has become a big deal now. He's not sure what to do because he had heated up some leftover chicken right before posting his screenshots and never got around to eating it. It has been several hours since and he's wondering if it's OK to eat the chicken." First, be smart from the very beginning. Pulverize all teeth, burn off fingerprints, and disfigure the face. Forcing a DNA test to establish identity (if it ever comes to that) might introduce the legal/forensic hurdle that saves your ass down the line. An unidentifiable body can, in a pinch, be dressed in thrift store clothes and dropped in a bad part of town where the police are less likely to question it. I don't reommend that disposal method, I'm just saying an easily identifiable body is an even bigger threat than the opposite...

By: butterstick

butterstick — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 16:12:28 -0800

"'They aren't activists; they're outlaws.' 'I've never known there to be a clear distinction between the two.'" Activists violate the law in selfless pursuit of principle, it is a sacrifice. Outlaws selfishly violate the law without regard to principle. I believe it is the CLARITY of this distinction that is being questioned. I think Anonymous tends to operate under fairly principled motives. They almost never gain anything, other than a collective and impersonal type of glory.

By: Mitheral

Mitheral — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 16:13:25 -0800

Pastabagel writes "I think it's worth buying a shitty laptop for $500 in cash, and then running it through a wood chipper or embedding it in concrete after you've sent the emails in order to keep yourself out of prison." Reduce that sucker to a pile if grit with a bench grinder.

By: rokusan

rokusan — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 16:17:41 -0800

If you're honest, you sooner or later have to confront your values. Then you're forced to separate what is right from what is merely legal. This puts you metaphysically on the run. America is full of metaphysical outlaws.

By: rokusan

rokusan — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 16:18:25 -0800

Tom Robbins, of course.

By: TheOnlyCoolTim

TheOnlyCoolTim — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 16:21:30 -0800

America is full of metaphysical outlaws. Would that it were more full.

By: spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints

spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 16:29:45 -0800

FYI, MeFi's own waxpancake will be discussing this live on G4's Attack of the Show.

By: fixedgear

fixedgear — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 16:50:00 -0800

America is full of metaphysical outlaws. And you know what the difference between outlaws and in-laws is, right? Thanks, I'll be here all week.

By: cortex

cortex — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 16:56:03 -0800

lipstick?

By: Smedleyman

Smedleyman — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 16:57:28 -0800

"I believe it is the CLARITY of this distinction that is being questioned." Sure, I agree there's no question there's some overlap. Sometimes activists are outlaws, sometimes vice versa. For the most part they're easy to tell in the extremes. Ghandi vs. Al Capone, say. I think it is clear here however. How can Anonymous operate according to principle when by definition they're undefined? How does anyone know what principles they adhere to when they're anonymous? There is a substantial difference between someone openly demanding their rights to speak and protest under the constitution being arrested and charged with violating the law and someone who covertly sneaks in and divests this kind of personal information. If it's wrong to do it to Joe Six Pack, why is it ok to do it to Palin? Because one simply believes she's using this particular account for an illegal act? So then if I believe my neighbor is doing something wrong can I break into his house and hunt for evidence of it? Activists (generally) operate in an open manner. The more open they are the more legitimately part of the system they are - that is - the more they are within the law they are. Even as they may disobey it - they respect it. Being for change doesn't mean you're for chaos. Indeed, many who dissent are quite passionate in their support of society. Albeit a different view of it. One can argue that, in the case of say 'Free Speech Zones', the law is wrong and an activist speaking outside of one is making an appeal to a higher law - the constitution. And therefore there is contention over the legitimacy of that law. Therefore they're not strictly speaking - outlaws. At least not by intent. What is the contention here? That politicians should have absolutely no personal privacy? That it's ok for vigilantes to invade someone's privacy if they're under investigation? The laws Anonymous is violating are not contested. Therefore they are operating outside the law. They're outlaws. So then - are they activists? They have been. Are they in this case? No. I don't see how my fearing them - if I piss off a bunch of people I don't know - maybe screwing with me - maybe not - fairly random behavior (again by definition) supports society. In this case they are at best vigilantes. Now, I'm not saying you don't need to run guerilla ops some times in the interest of some higher calling, but you should define your target, you should avoid collateral damage (what the hell does Palin's family have to do with her possible crimes? Why hurt them?) and you should put the weapon up when your done. Between what's right and what's legal, I'll take what's right every time. But we haven't gone entirely beyond the pale as a society into totalitarianism (as yet). So I'll keep working within the system. Was this hack necessary? I don't know. I don't even know if it mattered. Way way more tech savvy guys here. But as I say - let's not pretend this is something other than what it is because we don't like the target of it.

By: Mitrovarr

Mitrovarr — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 17:01:38 -0800

I love how this is some terrible crime that the FBI is all over, with special agents assigned to it and everything. Meanwhile, if any regular person had their email hacked and reported it, I bet that same FBI division wouldn't even bother to take down a report.

By: birdherder

birdherder — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 17:03:19 -0800

By: Seekerofsplendor

Seekerofsplendor — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 17:06:15 -0800

Who gives a crap? If she were a Democrat this response page would probably be very sprarse.

By: These Premises Are Alarmed

These Premises Are Alarmed — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 17:08:29 -0800

Maybe she practices inbox zero?

By: Rafaelloello

Rafaelloello — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 17:15:05 -0800

***Disclosure: I'm a very right-leaning, middle-aged registered democrat (who just about never votes for a democrat)***** Call me cynical, but I'll call a spade a spade, even if it goes against my presidential pick: This email "leak" along with the earlier baby-grand-ma-ma "scandal" all smack of Karl Rove style disinformation/tactics. I would offer that both of these stories were put out by the Republicans because they both will consume lots of "average voter" bandwidth and ultimately become pro-Palin advertising vehicles, exactly the opposite wish of all those that devote hour after endless hour adding to the fabric of these made-for-the-internet tales.

By: Blazecock Pileon

Blazecock Pileon — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 17:15:05 -0800

There's the rub. How do you know - know - she's getting around open records laws and not just using - this particular - personal account for personal stuff, unless you hack the account? ``Palin also routinely does government business from a Yahoo address, gov.sarah@yahoo.com, rather than her secure official state e-mail address, according to documents already made public. ``"Whoops!" Palin aide Frank Bailey wrote, after addressing an e-mail to the governor's official state address. "Frank, This is not the Governor's personal account," a secretary reminded him.''

By: shockingbluamp

shockingbluamp — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 17:18:30 -0800

If it were a democrat, the thread would not even be here. All is fair to those who think they are ALWAYS right.

By: Artw

Artw — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 17:18:37 -0800

By: Smedleyman

Smedleyman — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 17:25:31 -0800

"She was using this particular email account for official Alaska business." birdherder (and Blazecock Pileon) - yeah, looks like there's proof. Ok. End of story.

By: p3t3

p3t3 — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 17:25:46 -0800

She was using this particular email account for official Alaska business. Not clear. The WaPo article cites [gov.sarah@yahoo.com], whereas the rapidshare jpgs show an inbox with a mail from [gov.palin@yahoo.com].

By: Blazecock Pileon

Blazecock Pileon — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 17:27:30 -0800

Not clear. The WaPo article cites [gov.sarah@yahoo.com], whereas the rapidshare jpgs show an inbox with a mail from [gov.palin@yahoo.com]. That's missing the point, somewhat.

By: Science!

Science! — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 17:29:12 -0800

Well, gov.sarah is named in that article, but this crack was on gov.palin so there may not have been evidence of wrongdoing involving this account but I think it's reasonable to worry that she may have spread her violations across more than one account.

By: sophist

sophist — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 17:32:00 -0800

Rafaelloello: I can guarantee you this was not organized or instigated by any Republican disinformation squad. I saw the aftermath unfold on /b/ myself, and the entire thing has a distinct aura of the massive incompetence and true spirit of fail that permeates said board. They did not manage to actually manage to save ANY content worthy of perusal as far as anyone can tell. If the "hacker" (and it is far more likely they just guessed the answer to the security question than hacked anything) had been of even passing ability, the first order of business would have been to dump the entire contents of the inbox onto hard disk, and we would be hearing a very different story on the internet today about this matter. From link above: A good samaritan in the /b/ thread reset the password account with the intention of handing it over to Palin, a process known on /b/ as "white knighting". This locked everyone else out of the account. The "white knight" posted a screenshot to /b/ of his pending message to one of Palin's contacts about how to recover the account, but made the critical mistake of not blanking out the new password he set. Several other people in the /b/ thread then apparently logged in using this new password, and they all attempted to reset the password at once, causing a security trap at Yahoo to automatically put a 24-hour lockout on the account.

By: p3t3

p3t3 — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 17:32:11 -0800

That's missing the point, somewhat. Perhaps. But to the Anonymous Hacker: could you check the other email address too and let us know if you find anything better?

By: graventy

graventy — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 17:41:09 -0800

I think perhaps Anonymous' biggest mistake was taking a picture with his steam chat window in it. Not like steam accounts are directly tied to bank accounts or credit cards. wtg noob.

By: turducken

turducken — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 17:42:37 -0800

For the "shoe on other foot-ers": If this were about a Democratic governor/VP candidate using a Yahoo account to conduct subpoena-proof state business, one of those email screenshots would be declared a "smoking gun," and would be featured above the fold on the front page of the NYT, WaPo, WSJ, HuffPo, et al. The right-wing media would be screaming about it, and the mainstream media would follow suit, terrified of being called "liberal." (They'd also mock him/her for being an internets retard.) The Democrat in question would be pilloried, and most likely resign/step down.

By: clearly

clearly — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 17:51:00 -0800

If it were a democrat, the thread would not even be here. All is fair to those who think they are ALWAYS right. This is lucid. You are totally right. Plus the mods would have deleted it anyway. I mean, the left is totally out to get us! In this thread, I have read concerns for the privacy of government officials, I have also read that this particular governor attempts to bypass public disclosure by conducting government business through a private e-mail account. There has been a discussion about the perpetrators, as well as their motivation and organization. This whole discussion has been an attempt to determine if the hack was indeed the right move and the implications of that move. Nobody has asserted that they only support it because it happened to the Republican VP candidate. If a public official that was a member of the Democratic Party was conducting business through a private account and that information came to light, you would likely see a very similar discussion here.

By: Science!

Science! — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 17:51:35 -0800

graventy: "I think perhaps Anonymous' biggest mistake was taking a picture with his steam chat window in it. Not like steam accounts are directly tied to bank accounts or credit cards. wtg noob." If the cracker is in another country he/she might not have anything to fear.

By: Devils Rancher

Devils Rancher — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 18:00:55 -0800

Hello Members of 4Chan.org. The FBI in conjunction with Secret Service and DOJ is pleased to announce that you may be a one of five finalists in our drawing for a substantial cash prize! All you have to do to claim your prize is appear in person at The Internet Crime Complaint Center!

By: nudar

nudar — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 18:05:22 -0800

Maybe there WILL be an October surprise this year. A really good one though, instead of a really bad one.

By: Optimus Chyme

Optimus Chyme — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 18:11:33 -0800

If a public official that was a member of the Democratic Party was conducting business through a private account and that information came to light, you would likely see a very similar discussion here. posted by clearly at 5:51 PM on September 17 Absolutely. Corruption has to be stopped. Transparency is our greatest defense against it. And if you do an end-run around transparency, then you should be outed and punished by any means necessary. Democrat or Republican.

By: Korou

Korou — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 18:11:42 -0800

MetaFilter: community ~~weblog~~ of metaphysical outlaws

By: a3matrix

a3matrix — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 18:17:07 -0800

If the cracker is in another country he/she might not have anything to fear. Hmm, or, they may have more to fear than if they were here. Rendition? No need, we already have you where we need you. I can't see this going well for anyone involved.

By: Rafaelloello

Rafaelloello — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 18:18:31 -0800

By: The Power Nap

The Power Nap — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 18:24:57 -0800

@ I'm sticking with Hanlon's Razor on this one. I just don't see anyone's strategy being that complex, though I do see someone being that stupid. Seeing as we just had a 'reply-all' bomb that just took out our email servers here at the job.

By: turgid dahlia

turgid dahlia — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 18:28:38 -0800

SALLY FIELD, exactly! SAGE GOES IN ALL FIELDS!

By: odasaku

odasaku — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 18:28:56 -0800

There's a reason that a person who does a really half-ass job is called a "hack."

By: rough ashlar

rough ashlar — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 18:29:04 -0800

If it were a democrat, the thread would not even be here. An interesting claim. It will get tested one day, but the poster will never admit that they were wrong.

By: cj_

cj_ — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 18:42:42 -0800

By: Smedleyman

Smedleyman — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 18:48:55 -0800

"Nobody has asserted that they only support it because it happened to the Republican VP candidate" My particular beef was with Anon, in that, it is invasion of privacy - their motives are, of course, Anon. And support for the act generally. And in contrast to hypothetical - e.g. what if it were done to (say) Obama or just some dude - to isolate the act itself as vigilantism. So not just Dem - but high profile person. And contrasted to the government doing this - e.g violation of privacy. But in terms of partisan, there is the "Rove is doing this" thing (which while partisan I find strangely plausible) and the general introduction of the idea of the 'other side' (I assume Repubs) does nasty stuff and specifically there's DU 's comment which is more or less Palin-centric (certainly emotionaly empathizable, but y'know). But, for me, it's about the right move more against a given individual under investigation vs. a public official under investigation? I mean, there should be transparency in government. She can't say "fuck you" to a subpoena. She should have her ass handed to her by the Joint Legislative Council if it's found she's acted inappropriately. And I don't think anyone's thinking Palin is in the right on this e-mail thing. But the matter at hand is being driven by a FOIA request (it appears) and the dispute is over whether those records are to be public or not. I, for one, welcome our activist overlord (Andrée McLeod - who is not an outlaw) and the lawer he rode in on. But I'd sure like to see it hashed out in court through due process rather than turned into a donnybrook by an anonymous group that takes matters into its own hands. It certainly doesn't seem like those questions of confidentiality have been settled (from reading the piece posted by birdherder and Blazecock Pileon) by the law. So who is Anonymous to take the matter out of the hands of an actual activist whos put time, effort and money into it? My conclusion is that the hack was the wrong move. For those reasons. Much of the arguments against seem predicated on the idea that it's ok to do it to a government official or some such similar thing in the name of transparency, not Palin specifically. I disagree. There are proper channels. We should use them. If they don't work, if they're subverted, if there are blatent and egregious violations of the law by government officials - then by all means, water the tree of liberty. Far as I know it was this McLeod guy moving the ball. And it was working through the courts. Now? I dunno. "If a public official that was a member of the Democratic Party was conducting business through a private account a" Let's not kid ourselves. If this went down that way and that hypothetical member of the Democratic party was hacked folks here would be all about the Republican dirty trick machine. I'm not saying it's 'wrong', just that it's a fair charactarization. In fact I think this has been (with few, and perhaps understandable exceptions) very even handed and level headed (offhand f'rinstnce ). And with turducken's comment as a caviat. But c'mon. Lot of Dems on the mefi, man. Only similarity in the discussion would be Rove's name coming up. And the outrage. And cheesy puns. And inside jokes. And obscure references. ...y'know, I'm arguing against my own point here. Hell, maybe the thread would look exactly the same.

By: delmoi

delmoi — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 18:49:02 -0800

There's the rub. How do you know - know - she's getting around open records laws and not just using - this particular - personal account for personal stuff, unless you hack the account? We know because the email address show up in from fields in some of the emails that have been made public. In fact, there was one email released where a staffer wrote about the troopergate scandal and then said "Oops, I should have sent this to your non-governmental account" or something like that.

By: Rafaelloello

Rafaelloello — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 18:52:51 -0800

cj_: "312Man, Rove has really become the boogyman to some people. Is anyone seriously contending that he set up a fake email account seeded with illegal-looking stuff and left it as a low-hanging for someone to hack, so that they can use said media attention as some sort of reverse psychology to gain sympathy for Palin while obscuring coverage of the issues? Come ON." I don't know, I guess I see it in business all the time, so maybe it is just stupidity and carelessness. OTOH, I would think that there would be some sort of Hi-tech goon squad in place battening down all the hatches vis-a-vis electronic and voice communications of all sorts. It's not like cost is a consideration.

By: Tehanu

Tehanu — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 19:00:25 -0800

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. Ok. Now I'm willing to believe this could become more than outrage, jubilation, and noise.

By: Pope Guilty

Pope Guilty — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 19:24:26 -0800

So who is Anonymous to take the matter out of the hands of an actual activist whos put time, effort and money into it? It's clear from a lot of comments like this one that most of the people in this thread really don't understand what happened. Anonymous is not an activist organization, or an attack dog, or anything like that. While occasionally Anonymous can seize on one cause or another, it's not like they'll stay focused as a group- look at Anonymous' assault on Scientology. While it's spawned a whole new round of anti-Scientology activism, it is, within Anonymous, old meme. To be short and blunt, this was not done for great justice, or because Sarah Palin is an asshole, or anything like that. It was done because someone saw a famous person's email address, realized that it would be fairly easy to get into, and did so, posting the pictures for the comedy value. If you start thinking that Anonymous does things as a group for reasons other than teh lulz, you're going to find it difficult to actually understand what happened and why.

By: wendell

wendell — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 19:25:13 -0800

Get a magnesium strip, light that, then light the Al. RUN, MR. GORE, RUN!

By: LobsterMitten

LobsterMitten — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 19:30:39 -0800

Doesn't this give her a perfect defense for tech-ignorant investigators? For anything untoward in the account can't she now say "oh those tewwibwe hackews put it thewe"? posted by LobsterMitten No, because the hackers cannot have placed month-old e-mails in there. posted by TheOnlyCoolTim Ok, but will the jury or other Alaska state functionaries charged with investigating this know that? It seems likely to me that her lawyers etc will be able to weave a web of confusion about what mysterious powers these mighty hackers have. "They broke in to plant evidence against her. We don't know how they managed to break in, but obviously they must be super-awesome to hack into someone's email like this."

By: Tehanu

Tehanu — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 19:34:26 -0800

RUN, MR. GORE, RUN! Do not panic! He can be regenerated!

By: bokononito

bokononito — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 19:35:41 -0800

What a great session of preaching to the choir. Ah, the dramatics. What I like about this thread is the prevailing and almost unchallenged maxim of she is bad so the ends justify the means. Isn't that what many of you so much dislike about the current administration? Or it's all dandy when used against your ideological rivals? One thing is certain: the guys who broke into her email just enabled a slew of bipartisan - and paranoid - legislation that will severely limit the rights of hackers country-wide. Great job, fools.

By: Dave Faris

Dave Faris — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 19:52:14 -0800

That's an interesting take. Since when were hackers ever worried about breaking laws?

By: ryoshu

ryoshu — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 19:55:28 -0800

Since when were hackers ever worried about breaking laws? They don't. Since Anonymous is a group of hackers on steroids, I'd highly recommend getting a dog. Then people can point the finger where it belongs without fear of retaliation: Ebaum's World.

By: rokusan

rokusan — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 19:57:04 -0800

Man, Rove has really become the boogyman to some people. Is anyone seriously contending that he set up a fake email account... The guy who bugged his own office and blamed it on his opponent? That guy?

By: yhbc

yhbc — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 20:04:47 -0800

Isn't that what many of you so much dislike about the current administration? Or it's all dandy when used against your ideological rivals? We have cameras.

By: netbros

netbros — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 20:05:24 -0800

NBC fact checks Palin

By: scalefree

scalefree — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 20:18:06 -0800

I really don't know what hackers want. Bacon. And blinky lights. And sex. But not necessarily in that order.

By: mwhybark

mwhybark — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 20:18:43 -0800

Metafilter: outrage, jubilation, and noise.

By: rough ashlar

rough ashlar — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 20:24:26 -0800

What a great session of preaching to the choir. Ah, the dramatics. What I like about this thread is the prevailing and almost unchallenged maxim of she is bad so the ends justify the means. Isn't that what many of you so much dislike about the current administration? Or it's all dandy when used against your ideological rivals? - local user 16252 And voices that would say 'this was a crap move' - would you, Local USER 16252, admit that you were wrong? History on the blue says no. I'd be happy to see the mails if they were entered into the public record via a lawsuit. And I'd be even MORE pleased if the result of the investigation was 'the action was unconstituional and therefore said part(ies) in violation of their oath of office and are not only removed from office but are still on the government dole via time in jail. But somehow if things got to a 'remove from office' state, you'd have a bunch of hand waving dramatics from the very same whiners who post things like 'if it turns out Bush was wrong about WMD I'd work to remove him' (was that Dios or PP who then never did what they claimed) For "great job, fools" to be correct The US political process would have to exist under the rule of law. It would have to exist in a space where Republicans were punished for breaking into servers VS a 'we are outraged to have this information that was stolen' attitude and a paycheck, (Manuel Miranda for those who have forgotten.) But hey, feel to free to argue the 'rule of law' angle. Like the spammers who break the law and for the most part are unpunished the same looks to be the fate of these 'leakers'. (and those of you who want to play 'spot the hypocrite' over in metatalk - visit the memogate link on the blue and post a link to your writeup.)

By: p3t3

p3t3 — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 20:36:44 -0800

"..posters apparently dismissed the claim as a hoax, until the hacker posted the password ("popcorn"), prompting groups of forum users to log in.." You would think part of Dirty Covert Secret Politics 101 would include a lesson on how to make a decent password.

By: bradth27

bradth27 — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 20:38:20 -0800

If it were a democrat, the thread would not even be here. All is fair to those who think they are ALWAYS right. That's hilarious, considering we have a republican currently in office who refers to himself as "The Decider."

By: lukemeister

lukemeister — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 20:42:02 -0800

If she can't be bothered to change her password, how can we expect her to change America?

By: middleclasstool

middleclasstool — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 20:50:48 -0800

Man, Rove has really become the boogyman to some people. Is anyone seriously contending that he set up a fake email account seeded with illegal-looking stuff and left it as a low-hanging for someone to hack, so that they can use said media attention as some sort of reverse psychology to gain sympathy for Palin while obscuring coverage of the issues? Maybe, if Anonymous and /b/ hadn't been name-checked in this story. I'm guessing Rove knows about as much about Anon and the /b/tards as I do about being 10 pounds of evil, lying, democracy-raping ass-fuckery in a five-pound bag.

By: CheshireCat

CheshireCat — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 20:53:39 -0800

p3t3: Just to clarify, popcorn is the password that the hacker chose, since they got in by reseting her password using personal details. Popcorn is sort of a catch all temporary pass that gets used sometimes for things like rapidshare files; I suspect it's probably descended from the Saturday Night Live key party skit where the safeword was popcorn, but it's equally likely that it's just a random word that people latched on to.

By: Kattullus

Kattullus — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 21:00:40 -0800

middleclasstool: Maybe, if Anonymous and /b/ hadn't been name-checked in this story. I'm guessing Rove knows about as much about Anon and the /b/tards as I do about being 10 pounds of evil, lying, democracy-raping ass-fuckery in a five-pound bag. Wait! Doesn't Karl Rove have a socially awkward and nerdy son? The conspiracy theory pretty much writes itself.

By: sdodd

sdodd — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 21:04:07 -0800

Update to my previous comment:

$ whois fek9wnr.com

Whois Server Version 2.0

Domain names in the .com and .net domains can now be registered
with many different competing registrars. Go to http://www.internic.net
for detailed information.

   Domain Name: FEK9WNR.COM
   Registrar: GODADDY.COM, INC.
   Whois Server: whois.godaddy.com
   Referral URL: http://registrar.godaddy.com
   Name Server: NS29.DOMAINCONTROL.COM
   Name Server: NS30.DOMAINCONTROL.COM
   Status: ok
   Updated Date: 17-sep-2008
   Creation Date: 17-sep-2008
   Expiration Date: 17-sep-2009

>>> Last update of whois database: Wed, 17 Sep 2008 23:59:41 EDT <<&lt

By: Mitheral

Mitheral — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 21:08:27 -0800

shockingbluamp writes "If it were a democrat, the thread would not even be here. All is fair to those who think they are ALWAYS right." A) not everyone here can be split into these camps. B) Sure, I would have posted it if it was anyone who gets SS protection. It's both funny and educational in a way that hasn't really made the rounds since they shutdown whitehouse.com. scalefree writes "Bacon. And blinky lights. And sex. But not necessarily in that order." Or possibly all at the same time.

By: Kattullus

Kattullus — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 21:10:35 -0800

shockingbluamp: If it were a democrat, the thread would not even be here. All is fair to those who think they are ALWAYS right.. Dude, if Bill Clinton's e-mail had been hacked by /b/ that would so be all over MetaFilter (the e-mails would probably also be a lot more interesting).

By: p3t3

p3t3 — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 21:20:49 -0800

Thanks CheshireCat for clearing that up (and exposing my lack of knowledge in all things hackerly).

By: brain cloud

brain cloud — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 21:38:26 -0800

Doesn't Karl Rove have a socially awkward and nerdy son? Mother of God - Karl Rove has spawned? And it turned out to be a human baby?

By: Blazecock Pileon

Blazecock Pileon — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 22:01:21 -0800

If she can't be bothered to change her password, how can we expect her to change America? It's almost scary enough to be her Checkers moment.

By: lester

lester — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 22:15:53 -0800

They don't. Since Anonymous is a group of hackers on steroids, I'd highly recommend getting a dog. Then people can point the finger where it belongs without fear of retaliation: Ebaum's World. actually hackers on hormones, not steroids.

By: Kattullus

Kattullus — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 22:26:50 -0800

Apparently the hacker has written to Michelle Malkin:

Earlier it was just some prank to me, I really wanted to get something incriminating which I was sure there would be, just like all of you anon out there that you think there was some missed opportunity of glory, well there WAS NOTHING, I read everything, every little blackberry confirmation... all the pictures, and there was nothing, and it finally set in, THIS internet was serious business, yes I was behind a proxy, only one, if this sh**ever got to the FBI I was f***ed.

via Ben Smith at Politico.

By: Optimus Chyme

Optimus Chyme — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 22:36:19 -0800

I really wanted to get something incriminating which I was sure there would be, just like all of you anon out there that you think there was some missed opportunity of glory, well there WAS NOTHING hey that doesn't sound at all like bullshit

By: TheOnlyCoolTim

TheOnlyCoolTim — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 22:46:36 -0800

yes I was behind a proxy, only one MOAR PROXIES.

By: twoleftfeet

twoleftfeet — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 22:49:58 -0800

It scares me that the next VP and possibly president would be about as up on information security as a typical 13 year old girl with a myspace account. Palin doesn't understand the internets? I'm told the reason she knows national security is that she knows so much about energy and built a series of tubes in Alaska.

By: Mr_Zero

Mr_Zero — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 22:55:57 -0800

I love this. It's like the NSA wiretapping all of us. It reveals almost nothing but fucking sweet, right? Anon kicks ass in my book. I loved the last

By: sgt.serenity

sgt.serenity — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 23:03:45 -0800

thanks for making the republicans look good.

By: mr_roboto

mr_roboto — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 23:14:11 -0800

This could definitely be a hoax.

By: zardoz

zardoz — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 00:19:04 -0800

I think it would be very interesting indeed if the Alaska investigators subpoenaed Yahoo for the "deleted" accounts (they're surely alive and well on Yahoo servers somewhere), but that's a real longshot. By "longshot" I mean impossible. As it stands now, the investigators seem to be having a hard time just interviewing Palin staff members, much less getting a court order to pore through hundreds or thousands of emails to find something and come to a conclusion ALL BEFORE the election in 50-some days. It ain't gonna happen, not if Republicans can throw up roadblocks of some kind, which of course they're doing as we speak.

By: kaibutsu

kaibutsu — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 01:02:44 -0800

So at the risk of getting the Rule-Of-Law-Should-Always-Triumph folks panties ina further wad, I will take on their argument head-on. A third-party hack of Palin's email is justified, because there is no way in hell that the rule of law is going to be properly applied to any of the cases involving her, whether for inappropriate use of non-government email or, as we're seeing unfold on a day-to-day basis, TrooperGate. Palin and crew are subverting the legal process and attempting to put themselves outside the reach of the legal system. As such, I say let the full power of the lulz loose upon them. If you wish to blatantly disrespect the rule of law, then you have very little ground on which to complain about vigilante acts. And this is, lulz aside, how this whole thing came about: Some kids heard that Palin was disregarding the SOP on email, and then demonstrated exactly why the SOP exists. No tears from this side of the room.

By: Jimbob

Jimbob — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 01:26:23 -0800

MOAR PROXIES. I really don't know why people bother with proxies these days when they could use Tor.

By: heathkit

heathkit — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 02:07:15 -0800

So, any lawyer types around? If anon had found incriminating evidence and posted a screenshot, would that be admissible? Would it be enough for a warrant?

By: chunking express

chunking express — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 05:02:00 -0800

The Malkin post linked above has one of the best write ups of the story thus far.

By: sour cream

sour cream — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 06:10:46 -0800

I think you can see Russia on one of the photos in her account.

By: Slap Factory

Slap Factory — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 06:26:27 -0800

Needs more photoshopped images of pedobear going after the Palin children. Because sexual predators going after children are hilarious, right? What an asshole. You've got real issues.

By: octobersurprise

octobersurprise — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 06:34:26 -0800

"Hello Members of 4Chan.org. The FBI in conjunction with Secret Service and DOJ is requesting records of IP and posting information from the administrators of this site. We are offering a limited time offer of limited immunity to those who confess to the recent hacking of Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin's Yahoo email account. Those who step forward with evidence will be treated leniently, while the full force of law will be applied to those captured at a later date. That sounds like a pretty good deal. But I think I have a better one. How about, I give you the finger and you give me my phone call.

By: TheOnlyCoolTim

TheOnlyCoolTim — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 06:47:15 -0800

Because sexual predators going after children are hilarious, right? What an asshole. You've got real issues. Pedobear is a necessary and proper reaction against the current stupid CHILD MOLESTERS GONNA GET YOUR KIDS! FEAR! HATE! CATCH A PREDATOR! crap.

By: exlotuseater

exlotuseater — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 06:47:37 -0800

*octobersurprise's mouth suddenly knits together . . .* mmm! MMM! MMM! *crash* MMMMmmmMMM!

By: chunking express

chunking express — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 06:49:12 -0800

I'm sure if the FBI wanted to track people down, they'd do so without posting on the damn board. Anyone remember downloading stuff from newsgroups in the early 90s, and instead of the image or program you wanted, you end up with junk like, "the FBI is tracking your account" and crap like that?

By: ROU_Xenophobe

ROU_Xenophobe — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 07:03:21 -0800

Because sexual predators going after children are hilarious, right? When they're actually predators that will consume the children's flesh when they're through molesting them, yes, that's hilarious. Kid being molested by Daddy or Michael Jackson: creepy, generally unfunny. Kid being molested by a bear, and then eaten or torn to bits: awesome. B is for Basil, molested by bears

By: subbes

subbes — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 07:15:19 -0800

Anyone remember when... I'm pretty sure /b/ doesn't. (Grandad.)

By: ericb

ericb — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 07:15:57 -0800

"Memo to law enforcement investigators tracking down who broke into Sarah Palin's Yahoo email account: Gabriel Ramuglia might be a good place to start."

By: TheOnlyCoolTim

TheOnlyCoolTim — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 07:21:53 -0800

And that's why you use 7 proxies and Tor.

By: bitter-girl.com

bitter-girl.com — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 07:30:17 -0800

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

By: chunking express

chunking express — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 07:31:41 -0800

Well hopefully the l33t h8x0r is a 12 year old, and not an 18 year old, or his ass is probably fucked. Literally and figuratively i'm guessing.

By: sotonohito

sotonohito — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 07:35:01 -0800

Why bother with proxies when free and/or stolen WiFi is so available? Spoof your MAC, choose a hotspot where there aren't any cameras to record your presence and where no one knows you and its busy enough that you can easily be anonymous. Look bland, and act so boring that everyone forgets you were there.

By: Mastercheddaar

Mastercheddaar — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 07:37:17 -0800

Just another reason to vote Obama: Using a private e-mail for public work? Having an easily cracked password? A feeling that she is hiding something? A candidate, for the most important office in American, bringing this idiot on as a VP? These are things I look for in my future pres/vp combo. Make sure to vote John "McLame" McCain and Sarah "I'm really blonde and the devil " Palin to office in Nov...... because America hasn't quite hit the bottom yet!

By: graventy

graventy — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 07:46:14 -0800

The problem with the Malkin link is that it's on fucking Michelle Malkin's website, and therefore automatically a bit untrustworthy. Sure, that sounds like how it could have gone down, that the hacker was a democrat looking for evidence of wrongdoing, but I don't think we have any proof he was. If Biden was being investigated for using a freakin' Yahoo account to conduct actual government business and it got hacked there would be a Mefi post about it. No question.

By: TheOnlyCoolTim

TheOnlyCoolTim — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 07:47:07 -0800

Why bother with proxies when free and/or stolen WiFi is so available? Why give away even your general location? Free WiFi AND proxies.

By: chunking express

chunking express — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 07:51:58 -0800

As I've said up thread, the only way to do this right ends with self-immolation. Everything else is just amateur hour bullshit.

By: quin

quin — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 08:11:51 -0800

From the Malkin *shudders* link: Then the white knight fucker came along, and did it in for everyone, I trusted /b/ with that email password, I had gotten done what I could do well, then passed the torch , all to be let down by the douchebaggery, good job /b/, this is why we cant have nice things Yeah, you "trusted" a group of hyperkinetic pranksters to do... anything? productive or otherwise? this is why we cant have nice things No. Your inability to understand the complexities of rapidshare is why we don't have nice things. This person is not smart.

By: mwhybark

mwhybark — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 08:34:39 -0800

Regarding Malkin's post on this, I want to clarify Katullus' comment. The apparent o./b/. (if you will) did NOT drop a line to Malkin. Someone claiming to have seen and grabbed a now-deleted post from the initiator of hack wrote to her with a reasonably clear and apparently accurate summary of events, and included the email hacker's explanatory narrative of events. Everything in both Malkin's correspondent's commentary and the apparent hacker's narrative fits with what we came up with here from various sources, with one exception. The apparent hacker says, "I read though the emails... ALL OF THEM... before I posted, and what I concluded was anticlimactic, there was nothing there, nothing incriminating, nothing that would derail her campaign as I had hoped, all I saw was personal stuff, some clerical stuff from when she was governor.... And pictures of her family I then started a topic on /b/, peeps asked for pics or gtfo and I obliged, then it started to get big Earlier it was just some prank to me, I really wanted to get something incriminating which I was sure there would be, just like all of you anon out there that you think there was some missed opportunity of glory, well there WAS NOTHING, I read everything, every little blackberry confirmation... all the pictures, and there was nothing, and it finally set in, THIS internet was serious business, yes I was behind a proxy, only one, if this shit ever got to the FBI I was fucked, I panicked, i still wanted the stuff out there but I didn't know how to rapidshit all that stuff, so I posted the pass on /b/, and then promptly deleted everything, and unplugged my internet and just sat there in a comatose state" Which nearly matches the conjectural narrative we had seen previously. The big difference here is that the o./b/. here claims a) to have read through all the messages in the account and found 'nothing' b) to have been specifically motivated by a political gotcha quest It seems to me that these claims may well be inherently unverifiable. It would be great if an additional /b/ source were albe to verify that the quoted material seen on Malkin's site did indeed originate on 4chan.

By: Pope Guilty

Pope Guilty — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 09:11:05 -0800

It's impossible to connect postings on 4chan with a specific person without the sort of server logs and so forth that none of us have access to, though. Anybody- you, me, him- could make the claim without fear of contradiction, and the fact that the "hacker" claims that there was nothing incriminating when talking to a rabid Palin supporter like Malkin has smell test issues.

By: Mitheral

Mitheral — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 09:12:31 -0800

chunking express writes "Anyone remember downloading stuff from newsgroups in the early 90s, and instead of the image or program you wanted, you end up with junk like, 'the FBI is tracking your account' and crap like that?" Uh ... No. Have you checked to see if your phone is tapped lately? Mastercheddaar writes "Having an easily cracked password?" There is no evidence of this. The hacking was most likely an exploit of the password hint system on an email system designed for user friendliness and low support costs rather than security.

By: mrgrimm

mrgrimm — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 11:07:46 -0800

Ha, I almost posted this yesterday morning and thought it was too stupid. I guess not.

By: Exchequer

Exchequer — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 11:08:29 -0800

Malkin and Little Green Footballs commenters are identifying the alleged perpetrator as: rubico10 aka David Kernell Memphis, TN age 20 son of democratic state 93rd district senator Mike Kernell (Tennessee) rubico10@yahoo.com Discussion on his Wikipedia page. Moribund blog. His YouTube page. (closed now) Good luck, dude.

By: Bookhouse

Bookhouse — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 11:12:37 -0800

Well, crap, I hope that's not true. Even as lame a connection as that will give them a way to tie this to Obama.

By: Artw

Artw — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 11:13:30 -0800

rubico10 aka David Kernell YOU'RE FIRED! son of democratic state 93rd district senator Mike Kernell (Tennessee) YOU'RE FIRED TOO!

By: octobersurprise

octobersurprise — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 11:32:21 -0800

Malkin and Little Green Footballs commenters ... and then war came, war between the /b/tards and the lizardoids, war such as would shake teh internets to teh vewy foundations ...

By: mwhybark

mwhybark — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 11:36:52 -0800

the fact that the "hacker" claims that there was nothing incriminating when talking to a rabid Palin supporter like Malkin Except a) if the statement is both accurate and accurately sourced, the guy WASN'T talking to Malkin, he was posting on 4chan b) the only person addressing Malkin is the third party that emailed her the board quotes so yeah, I agree, iffy simply because it breaks on MM, but the fool isn't running to MM with a confession, he just posted it to 4chan. Oh man, LGF has the guy's name? God help him. Maybe LGF and /b/ will declare war on each other now. And if he is 20 and the kid of a Dem pol, EPIC FAIL. Let me say it now: get the kid on a suicide watch NOW.

By: dixie flatline

dixie flatline — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 11:43:11 -0800

Yeah, I'm not really buying the story that the hacker read 'all' the emails. Seems more likely that he was so excited about his discovery that he couldn't resist sharing it, without really thinking about the consequences.

By: TheOnlyCoolTim

TheOnlyCoolTim — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 11:48:20 -0800

Anyone know if 4chan keeps its IP logs?

By: octobersurprise

octobersurprise — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 11:50:21 -0800

Even as lame a connection as that will give them a way to tie this to Obama. No, it won't "give" them a way "to tie this to Obama." They were always already going to try "to tie this to Obama" even if they had to--wait, this'll knock your socks off--entirely and completely and totally make shit up. What it will do is send a momentary chill down the spines of those paranoid schizophrenics when they pause to contemplate that maybe, just maybe, that conspiracy of liberals that they so love to fear is real ... and maybe it's READING THEIR FACEBOOK PAGE RIGHT NOW!!!

By: chunking express

chunking express — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 11:53:20 -0800

Anyone know if 4chan keeps its IP logs?

What personal information is collected? 4chan only collects and stores user information for active posts. Once a post is pruned or deleted, it is removed from our servers permanently. We value the privacy of our users, and will not make private information such as IP addresses available to others. We will however, comply with valid court orders and cooperate with law enforcement agencies when necessary. Note that: due to the immense storage constraints we face, logs files are automatically rotated (daily) and removed (monthly) to make room for new ones.

By: chunking express

chunking express — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 11:54:32 -0800

They also apologized for the jokes about the listeriosis deaths. The Torries are good at apologizing.

By: lysdexic

lysdexic — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 12:12:02 -0800

If Sarah Palin isn't committing crimes or consorting with The Terrorists, then why would she care if we can monitor her emails?

By: Artw

Artw — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 12:14:47 -0800

that conspiracy of liberals that they so love to fear is real ... and maybe it's READING THEIR FACEBOOK PAGE RIGHT NOW!!! We should totally change all their relationship statuses to "It's complicated".

By: jokeefe

jokeefe — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 12:41:17 -0800

rubico10 aka David Kernell Memphis, TN age 20 son of democratic state 93rd district senator Mike Kernell (Tennessee) rubico10@yahoo.com Oh lord. Good luck, kiddo.

By: The Power Nap

The Power Nap — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 13:49:23 -0800

I would pay cash munee to see a lizardiod-/b/tard cage match! It doesn't matter who loses, because I'd win either way. Is it wrong that I envision the /b/tards as the anarchic gang lead by 'Lord Humungus' in The Road Warrior

By: Artw

Artw — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 13:53:58 -0800

Would that make the Palin emails some kind of razor boomerang?

By: designbot

designbot — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 13:56:15 -0800

This will kernell.

By: The Power Nap

The Power Nap — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 14:06:00 -0800

Would that make the Palin emails some kind of razor boomerang? Yeah, I could see that. Guarding precious oil, rampant debauchary, pointless war in the desert, it's a simile goldmine. I think I'll watch it tonight.

By: mwhybark

mwhybark — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 14:12:52 -0800

/b/TARD vs. FREETARD: QUIEN ES MAS MACHO

By: mwhybark

mwhybark — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 14:20:04 -0800

Ooops, make that /b/TARD vs. FREEPER: QUIEN ES MAS MACHO FSJ get out of my head

By: Marisa Stole the Precious Thing

Marisa Stole the Precious Thing — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 14:44:02 -0800

I think the most disturbing part of this story is that someone wrote to Malkin on purpose.

By: porn in the woods

porn in the woods — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 14:50:40 -0800

Kernell Panic.

By: Blazecock Pileon

Blazecock Pileon — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 14:56:25 -0800

Kernell Panic. Maybe he's forked?

By: quin

quin — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 15:01:54 -0800

That's Lieutenant Major Panic to you. (He was demoted.)

By: mrgrimm

mrgrimm — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 15:45:22 -0800

pic of Kernell

By: Justinian

Justinian — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 16:11:52 -0800

I forsee that picture becoming a new internet meme. But with the word PWNED!!!!! scrawled across it in giant red letters.

By: Jimbob

Jimbob — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 17:06:02 -0800

So, so poorly executed. The very opposite of Anonymous.

By: Effigy2000

Effigy2000 — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 18:20:04 -0800

If Palin were a Democrat...

By: cimbrog

cimbrog — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 18:59:57 -0800

Bill O'Riley getting schooled by his own expert. Yeah, bill. Her emails on the websites are stolen property, so why don't we just go and get them back for her? Somebody thinks the internet is like a truck.

By: rough ashlar

rough ashlar — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 19:52:49 -0800

A third-party hack of Palin's email is justified, because there is no way in hell that the rule of law is going to be properly applied to any of the cases involving her, whether for inappropriate use of non-government email or, as we're seeing unfold on a day-to-day basis, TrooperGate. If you wish to make such arguments, why not tack something together using the FISA bill and Madison VS Marbury, Sew it together with every string of emails being 'lost', CONINTPOL, government survelance of citizens w/o warrants et la. Extra flair if you can work in 'if you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear' For crunch sarcastic sprinkles, point out that e-discovery takes 1-3 million dollars per terabyte, then point out how much the taxpayer saved with this free discovery job.

By: nudar

nudar — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 23:47:33 -0800

LOL @ cimbrog's video!! ...ahh Bill, you are oh so clueless.

By: Marisa Stole the Precious Thing

Marisa Stole the Precious Thing — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 02:37:29 -0800

So, so poorly executed. The very opposite of Anonymous. Yeah, I'm not too sure about that. I've seen Anonymous very successfully gang up on and ruin small targets like Alex Wouris, Hal Turner or Goddess Mine, but remember "/b/spays"? So much potential, yet so much fail. Nothing about this news surprises me.

By: beelzbubba

beelzbubba — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 09:51:32 -0800

Megan Kelly has been schooling the idiots at Fox all week long on their knee-jerk (ok, leave out the knee if you want) responses to so many issues. I wonder how long she will be able to stay at Fox? She apparently has not read or followed the memo that says that truth does not stand in the way of Fox News. Brava! What's Ailes up to? Is he trying to salvage some shred of objectivity?

By: mrgrimm

mrgrimm — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 11:58:09 -0800

So, so poorly executed. The very opposite of Anonymous. That seems to be an inherent risk in using the Anonymous moniker. You are everyone and no one, and will eventually mean nothing.

By: TheOnlyCoolTim

TheOnlyCoolTim — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 12:15:47 -0800

You are everyone and no one, and will eventually mean nothing. Welcome to life.

By: designbot

designbot — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 07:18:35 -0800

Federal agents executed a search warrant early Sunday morning at the apartment of a University of Tennessee student in connection with the probe. In the days since news of the Palin hack broke, Web sleuths have focused on the 20-year-old student, whose father is a Democratic state representative in Tennessee.

By: beelzbubba

beelzbubba — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 12:14:51 -0800

Little or No Jail Time Likely for Palin Hacker from WiredBlog. Seems that one wrinkle in the SCA may make it impossible to charge him with violating privacy, but another law may be applicable to charge him with a misdemeanor, since a felony would require proof of actual monetary damages.

By: benzenedream

benzenedream — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 17:11:50 -0800

Nice picture. Pretty much exactly what I had imagined a /b/tard to look like. Jeff K. would be proud!

By: cimbrog

cimbrog — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 08:53:20 -0800

Lawmaker's son, UT student David Kernell, indicted in Palin e-mail hacking If convicted, Kernell faces a maximum of five years in prison, a $250,000 fine and a three-year term of supervised release. Meh. The only way this will get any more interesting is if anonymous decides to go all Spartacus or creates a new "Free Dave" meme.

By: scalefree

scalefree — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 13:48:10 -0800

DOJ Goes Long for Sarah Palin

Oddly, though, the indictment doesn't exactly state what the crime or tort is that the intrusion was designed to further. It just states that the intrusion was "in furtherance of the commission of a criminal act in violation of the laws of the United States, including 18 U.S.C. Section 2701 and 18 U.S.C. Section l030(a)(2)" But Section 2701 and Section 1030 are the intrusion statutes themselves! It makes no sense to allow a felony enhancement for a crime committed in furtherance of the crime itself; presumably the enhancement is only for intrusions committed in furtherance of some other crime. Otherwise the felony enhancement is meaningless, as every misdemeanor becomes a felony.

By: lysdexic

lysdexic — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 14:43:26 -0800

Kind of like being arrested for "resisting arrest".