Anonymous hacks Sarah Palin's email

Look as an IT professional of over twenty years experience let me explain something.

It is scientifically impossible to spy on all emails sent over the Internet. You can't have a hard drive big enough to fit every email ever wrote in just one day on it, much less seven years. You'd have to create a filter to weed out the useless crap and unimportant email. So you use a packet filter:

http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Packet+Filter

A software routine that analyzes incoming data packets and forwards them or discards them based on one or more criteria such as address, range of addresses and type (e-mail, file transfer, etc.). Packet filtering is generally performed in a router, in which case the router is known as a "screening router."

So you filter them by key words like the names of terrorist groups, the words "bomb", "explosion", "assassinate" and key phrases, it can even be made to just process non-English emails like Arabic, Kurdish, Persian, Dari, etc. Most languages most US citizens don't really speak, in fact most Americans only speak English and heck even Spanish, but hardly anything else. So basically you boys who hide in your mother's basements and use AOL to write emails with tinyurls of 2 girls 1 cup to your friends for the lulz won't even get your privacy invaded because all you use is English and your email is not being routed to Saudi Arabia and locations other terrorist networks operate out of.

You are just not important enough for the CIA, FBI, DHS, or even S.H.I.E.L.D. and S.W.O.R.D. to domestically spy on. Sorry to deflate your egos, but government spies don't waste their times listening in to your phone calls and reading your emails, and if they did they are incompetent and are wasting their time while the real terrorists are pulling off more 9/11 attacks. Since there are no more terrorist attacks on US soil, we can logically reason that they are only violating the privacy of terrorist suspects, and not those Kuro5hin, The Daily Kos, IWETHEY, Moveon.Org, Anonymous, 4chan/7chan, and boys who live in their mother's basement with paranoid NWO conspiracy theories they post all over the Internet.

Even if it were technically possible to spy on "everyone's" email, it does not justify what Anonymous did to Palin. Two wrongs do not make a right. If Anonymous doesn't want Bush spying, they should either prove that Bush is spying on "everyone" and not just terrorist suspects or kindly STFU. Hacking anyone's email account not only is highly hypocritical, it is retarded, dumb, and shows that Anonymous has more lulz than brains. Why? Because Anonymous just sabotaged Barack Obama's campaign, the one candidate that could have stopped the Patriot Act, and they just torpedoed his chances by hacking Palin's email. Now the average US citizen thinks Obama put Anonymous up to the attack and they will vote for McCain. Since the polls show a 50/50 race, it will be 51/49 in favor of McCain. This means it is an epic fail for Anonymous and liberals everywhere. For bonus points the Anonymous members who did the hackings forgot to take out their IP headers in those screen shots and now will be arrested and be in federal PITA prison for 5 to 8 years. Guess what? The Supreme court will soon move the prisoners in GITMO to Federal PITA prison in the next few years to get their "fair trials" and they will be bunk mates with the Anonymous people. Rest assured, they will share your hatred of the US government and Bush, but since you are not a radical Muslim like them, they will bully you for the rest of your prison term.

every person in politics is giving up their privacy, it's the way that it's always been done. when information gets leaked to the press, and it brings down someone, how do you think that info gets obtained? get real, besides does anyone really believe that anything you write via e-mail is actually private. every bit of information that you transfer via e-mail, texting, or phone can be recorded, obtained, and used against you with or without a warrant or even a legit reason thanks to the patriot act and everything associated with it. who really cares that some hateful and narrow minded woman got her e-mail hacked, important things should be done in person, anyway, not via electronics.

I'm not a Palin fan, but even I have to question the actions taken by these hackers. At the same time, however, should we really be that shocked that this would have happened. When it was revealed in the news that Mrs. Palin had been using private e-mail addresses to conduct state business, then it comes as no surprise to me that someone would take the effort to hack her account.

We, the people, have a right to know what our government is doing. When a government official tries to hide their public actions behind a cloak of privacy and secrecy, they are giving up their rights to cry foul at having that privacy pierced by the public. If they don’t want the privacy violated, they shouldn’t co-mingle public records with their private records. It’s as simple as that for me.

The problem as I see it is public officials hiding their actions, true ideologies, public agreements, and a host of other public functions from public view. The problem is further exacerbated when they then try to claim that when they act in our name, using our power, that they have the right to hide behind a claim of personal privacy. They invite civil disobedience with their corrupt actions.

We, the people, place our public trust in our elected officials. In exchange, we ask them to govern transparently. Any politician who goes out of their way to hide the manner in which they exercise the power we give to them isn't worthy of my vote or support.

I don't care what's in any of her e-mails. What I do care about is the concrete evidence that Sarah Palin is conspiring to hide her governance from the people who elect her. As far as I'm concerned, this sort of behavior automatically disqualifies a candidate from getting my vote for even more public trust.

What is sad to me is how many people are willing to overlook her deception and secretiveness because she plays for their team.

Since Obama attacked John McCain for not being able to use e-mail, then obviuosly Obama does too...so until we have seen inside his inbox as well, don't be judging Sarah Palin on what is inside hers....

respect anonymous

Who keeps Anonymous in check?

They are assuming to keep government in check....because someone 'has' to, but who keeps them in check?

Otherwise they're no better than the government (or people of badness) they hack to 'prove' a point.

I watch political people like McCain, Obama, Clinton and Palin and I imagine that everyone that attacks them heartlessly as if they are not human couldn't hack it themselves. Couldn't withstand the same ostracism they bestow upon these political leaders and that's why I respect every single one of them. Because even though they are going to get it in the public eye they still bother to run.

As for this public email---those that love transparency of Government should be in love with her use of Yahoo because she's not trying to hide things. If they can see it then any good hacker could have caught a glimpse.

I think Anonymous is fascinating. Something that works at such secrecy reminds me of the Free Mason stuff. They are trying to do good, I assume, and that's something to admire.

If they are going after Palin then there's a threat and a great chance of McCain and Palin to win. Otherwise why bother with someone that is so far behind they'll lose?

Hopefully they are not party motivated, that would be very disappointing.

Even though hacking into a citizens private email account was made lawful under the Patriot Act for government agencies, it is still not to be condoned under any circumstances. Whether or not it exposes anything that Governor Palin has or has not done, by using the data obtained this lowers the Democrats to the levels already plumbed by the Bush administration.

There are some comments decrying Governor Palin for using her personal account for some government e-mail. Would these be the same people laughing at McCain for not using e-mail? Are they still laughing when it was revealed that McCains problems with e-mail result from injuries sustained as a POW. Now Gov. Palin is a fool for using her e-mail. So what is it or is there such a dearth of intellectual honesty that this kind of reasoning is allowed?
Whoever did this should go to jail for a looooong time. No parole, no probation.

Too bad this "anonymous" was not around during the Clinton administration. Perhaps he/she could have found the Rose law firm billing records in a timely fashion.

We should hack Obama's email. That'd be interesting.

there was no win? that sucks, on another note, just 3 more days til caturday

i cant find what i posted a minute ago
did anonymous hack my account

I cant access Wikileaks. I've tried links to international wikileaks sites also. Is anyone else having trouble accessing the website? I think i'm having a cencorship problem here.

The hackers should be given a medal, not prosecuted. Should we have waited for Palin to be VP and have her emails hacked by Al Queda or one of our other enemies (or friends)? How incredibly stupid of her (and McCain for picking her).

this is messed up. figures...you crazy liberals....

I find it ironic that people here complain about government intrusion but celebrate hacker intrusion. I realize this site has a predominantly liberal audience, but ask yourself this: how would you feel if Obama's e-mail got hacked?

if she's got nothing to hide, what's the harm?

Right?

If it's okay for the government to do it to us, why not somebody else?

lets just say hackers expose the true Dark side that the us government has.

it all began when main asked Sarah palin to join the dark side.

Anonymous is not a group of hackers - it's a leaderless collective of like-minded individuals, from all walks of life.

http://www.enturbulation.org/press-media/faq

For the lulz guys, for the lulz.
I find it rather humorus, but its really an invasion of privacy so I cant really agree with anon on this one.

Go Anonymous! Any public official who uses private and unsecure e-mail accounts for public business should be hacked, and publicly displayed. It's Patriot Act Sneak and Peak paybacks!

wow I find this amazing but I worry that anonymous will get into real trouble... it is not worth the effort if you don't find any real dirt though...

nosy people

anonymous does not forgive

Were any lulz had?

Looks like all her e-mails were pretty lame.

"Governor Palin has come under criticism for using private email accounts to conduct government business and in the process avoid transparency laws."

This is the crux of the story, in my opinion. By using the private e-mail for public business, Palin avoids leaving a public record of her activities, which, in turn, helps her avoid accountability for her actions. Remember how crucial e-mails and other documents from public computers were in exposing Republican activities in Florida in 2000 (such as the "voter-cleansing" program)? Secrecy has long been a cornerstone of Neoconservatism, and situations like Florida 2000 reinforce that view in their twisted little minds. This raises some serious ethical concerns about the manner in which Palin governs.

if she uses yahoo i wonder if palin has aim?

Anonymous FTW! I was wondering when someone would try to find the candidate's true motivations.

For one thing, a non-POP account (i.e. on a government server) would be much harder to hack....Secondly, ...Hahahahahaha....I hope it has some email like "I really don't know what the hell I'm doing, but, hey, I'll get to shove my religion down the entire nation's throat!" or something to that effect....Now, if they would just get to work on W.'s account (come on, you know he's got one for porn...)

(((Using a public email service for Government business?!? )))

Bad decision!!!!

Kinda like Bill Clinton trusting a 21 year old girl to keep a secret.

I agree that if someone is running for office in the US, much of their personal life will end up on the table and news. I disagree with people thinking we have a right to know all of it.

Am I the only one who thinks she and McCain will lose without this type of exposure?

Bet you any money it was a reformed Republican that did this! I don't agree with it, but blaming people for wanting to know the truth about someone who is applying for a job to run this country, and has a habit of not telling the truth........well letting that go could be the end of us!

I find nothing to celebrate in this story. People: don't you remember Watergate? Obtaining information that is considered private, because the expectation of privacy exists, without due process is wrong! Is wrong when the government carries it out, and it is wrong when individuals do it. BTW I am not a Palin fan.

We don't need to anything illegal to get the dirt. It would just supply the proof. The dirt is already coming out on its own.

This is bad. Any incriminating evidence, if it exists, is now gone with the account. I wonder: does Yahoo! keep backups of anything?

Let's see how the Republicans like a taste of their own medicine!!! Years of GOP wire-tapping have come to a head.

Anonymous should be making national headlines for this one.

I love how everyone justifies the intrusion into someones personal email then cries when the government turns around and does the same thing.

what does the anti Scientology group have to do with Sarah palin

i thought she was Christian
i would have thought they would do this to tom cruse
also a lot anonymous are admittedly pussies
i would show my face and if the Scientology people did something to me then the people i know would go to the media and officials ect...

and BTW scientologists are just a bunch of ex drug addicts and i don't think it's healthy to care that much

Hmm, I could say "you shouldn't do that Anonymous", but anything help in taking down the evil empire is a good thing.

The fact is, they are soooooo corrupt and have infiltrated soooooo much of government and corporate America, I'm all for it.

Hope they picked up some truly incriminating stuff on the "pig with lipstick".

This is why do as I say not as I do doesn't work at all. The administration set the example and Anonymous followed right along. Now the neocons well cry foul because spying is only fun when you're the spy and not the spied upon.

What's good for the goose is good for the ganderer.

after this, i'm sure we'll soon find out who's in anonymous.

It is wrong to do this regardless of who it is done to. And the fact that this is number one here is absolutely ridiculous. This is what is most important? After the way so many came down on the illegal spying being done to Americans they would condone this because of a political bias?

what! no nude pics! damn...waste of time

Maybe Anonymous can find those missing emails the white house keeps losing.

A sick invasion? Get a court order?

Well, that's one way to look at it.

But doesn't that assume the person we're trying to get info out of is going to play along?

What if she just decides to hit delete?

What if Nixion just decided to burn the tapes? He very well could have. I think we're all stunned that he didn't. But if we tried to play fair and Nixion decided not to -- he never would have been impeached. We'd never know what happened.

I like the cross-eyed Bristol photo with her kid...Sarah's kid...somebody's kid.

i honestly think this is a sick invasion. let things come out in the right way, get a court order if it is illegal or unethical but not this. this is pretty fucked if you ask me.

Obligatory preample: yeah, yeah. That's wrong and unlawful blah, blah....so give me the dirt!

What is the Sarah girl hiding? Does it say anything about Troopergate? Anything incriminating? Tell me! tell me!

It's funny, I was actually on 4chan when they decided to try and hack it. Most people didn't think it was worth it, so I didn't think they'd actually go through with it.

Im just waiting for the 4chan to expose the nude shots lol

I would be hesitant to draw any conclusions about Palin from this article. Even if the screen shot isn't a fake, hacking into someone's email account is wrong, and anyone who would do something immoral like that obviously has something they're looking for; such a person would likely have no problem presenting a sewed story of what is actually going on.