Hacktivists Get Into Palin's Email

Corrections: Since yesterday a lot of information has come about, both about the hack of the email, and the group(s) which go by the name "Anonymous". I've tracked the story, and the three new blog posts are here, here, the final post "Who Is Anonymous". It now seems the hack was falsely attributed to the group anonymous, potential due to intentional obfuscation on the part of the current suspect. A member of anonymous will be joining me on Friday's "Unusable Signal" to provide more information about the group.

The ill-defined protest "group" known as Anonymous, famous both for their campaign against Scientology and their strange protest activities, has hacked Gov. Sarah Palin's private email account and posted some of the contents online.

Internet "griefing" is a key component of the activities of Anonymous, and this is no exception. The full text of two private emails, as well as the screenshot of Palin's inbox and some of her family photos were added to the site wikileaks. The purported reasoning is that they are blowing the whistle on Palin using private email addresses for public business. However, as pointed out at Network World, the two example emails do not support the assertion, as they involve political material not permissible for use with a government email address.

Anonymous may be unaware, but elected officials not only may use private email addresses to correspond with other public officials, they actually must if it is material deemed not appropriate. For example, if Nancy Pelosi wanted to send the latest Michael Moore video to Howard Dean, she'd have to use her yahoo email address to do it, not her house email. So a bunch of addresses of people like Arnold Schwarzenegger showing on the list is evidence of nil.

The face of the controversy could change as the contents of the remainder of the emails are parsed ad nauseum by the online left, as you know they will. The current takeaway is clear: as the last two weeks have shown, the online left and their traditional media enablers will stop at nothing, not even the law, in their bloodthirsty quest to tear Gov. Sarah Palin limb from limb. It will be instructive to see who, if anyone, can be bothered to condemn this hack job.

UPDATE: The McCain campaign has issued a statement: "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 emails will destroy them. We will have no further comment."

It is amusing to see, this week, a half-hearted attempt by the DNC and media outlets to paint to the McCain campaign as playing dirty. Obama's religiously devoted followers, including on blogs and in the press, have been doing his dirty work for months, and much dirtier than the McCain campaign could ever hope to stoop to. It's a neat trick to try and avoid getting Obama's hands dirty, and I recall a lot of people earlier this year whining that surrogates were doing McCain's dirty work for him. Yet the most significant Democrat blog online openly admits to doing so on behalf of Obama.

The number of lines willing to be crossed in the Palin witch-hunt the last few weeks continues to grow. From spreading rumors about her children to questioning her as a mother ... hacking her private email account and posting her private family photos online fits in perfectly. I have no doubt we'll soon hear a defense of the importance of this illegal activity to the political process. Steal personal email, don't steal press release prayers. Claim Palin's children are fair game because they are with in her public now and then, claim Michelle Obama is not fair game despite being a speech-making, event-hosting part of the campaign.

Anonymous may be anonymous, but their tactics are as plain as day. It's Obama Supporter 101. Do as he wants, not as he pretends not to do. Anonymous broke the law, but they kept the spirit of the left perfectly intact.

Update: Friday night, Unusable Signal is live on the air at 11pm. Unusable Signal is the number one progressive/liberal talk show at blogtalkradio, and I cohost on Fridays and Saturdays. I'm persuadable on the definition of Anonymous. Call in and give us the scoop!