Splicetoday

Politics & Media
Sep 18, 2008, 01:38PM

Palin Hacked

The two events dominating today's news cycle were John McCain's questionable interview and the revelation that Sarah Palin's Yahoo! email account was hacked (contrary to popular belief that no one with any shred of savvy uses Yahoo! mail). While screenshots of the governor's emails and family photos are all over the Internet, respectable media outlets have condemned the act. While it is true that the act was illegal and embarrassing and demands consequences, it is more than a little ironic that Karl Rove and others are so adamantly offended at the invasion of Palin's privacy. The Administration has unilaterally (and without warrant) spied on Americans for years. This is in no way to excuse the crime committed against Palin, but one can't help but feel more than a little hypocrisy in the reaction from the right.

Discussion
  • Nice moral equivilency. This kid violated Palin's privacy because he didn't like her politics and hoped to embarass her. He then gratuitously disclosed private info to millions of people. By contrast, the administration spied on people (Americans, and also people outside the US who's calls where routed through here) they had reason to suspect might be involved in terrorism. In many of these instances there was not time to obtain a warrant (i.e. the phones would go dead once it was learned they'd been compromised). Perhaps you would like a stricter standard? Fine. But don't equate it with what the little prick did.

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  • I think my language was appropriate, considering the disparate situations. I used the words "ironic" and "hypocritical" because the heart of the issue is the fact that in both cases, a basic tenet of privacy was/is violated. I equivocated several times in the post because I in no way condone this kid's actions. I am saying both cases are wrong, and that both are different (vastly) means to same illegal, immoral and unconstitutional end.

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