Accused Palin Hacker Says Stolen E-Mails Were Public Record | Hacker News Reader

Accused Palin Hacker Says Stolen E-Mails Were Public Record

wired.com

22 pointsvaksel8 comments

Kid did a dumb thing, but from what I know of the facts (no malicious intent) this seems like a waste of public resources to send this to trial and possibly keep this guy in jail. Proportionality seems a bit out of whack here, a stiff fine seems fair enough.

> Kid did a dumb thing, but from what I know of the facts (no malicious intent)

How do you know that there was no malicious intent? (I'm not saying you don't - I'm asking how you gained access to this information.)

Putting on my "what if it had happened to {someone else}" hat, I'll ask if folks would be so forgiving if it had been Biden or Obama?

You're right, I suppose I was just inferring his intent. But from the facts that have been released, it looks like he just posted screenshots of his successful "hack" on 4chan, and didn't try to do anything more nefarious like steal her identity. I could be wrong.

I think my reaction would have been the same had it been Obama, Biden, or any public figure. One big difference for me anyway, would have been if he had accessed a @whitehouse.gov address (whether Bush, Obama or other official). Being able to figure out her pet's name or whatever seems somewhat trivial to merit a jail sentence.

> But from the facts that have been released, it looks like he just posted screenshots of his successful "hack" on 4chan,

Are you saying that it didn't matter to him whose account it was? If it did, what definition of "not malicious" are we using?

he is a 4channer, malicious intent comes with the territory, but yeah waste of tax payer money, only reason its being prosecuted is because he hacked a celebrity.

hell it wasn't even hacking, all he did was figure out the answer to her "secret question"...I think it was "where did you go to school" or something simple like that

It doesn't matter if the content of the emails was public, breaking into someones email account is wrong. PG: can we ban wired articles for a while? There's been a glut of them recently that have little to do with hacking or startups.

I agree that breaking into someone's account is wrong, but the argument isn't about that. It's about whether it is a felony or a misdemeanor.

Moreover, the legal standing of privacy for e-mails is very interesting and I doubt I am the only one crious to see where this line of argument goes. For example, it speaks to the question "If I have consented for my employer to scan my email, does that mean my employer has the right to make my emails public"?

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