The 20-year-old gained entry into Palin's account by guessing the answer to her security question. Then he went public without finding anything really juicy.

It did become clear Palin had been using the account, "gov.sarah," for government business, a naked affront to Alaska's public records laws. But that's not what Palin wants to talk about. Surprise: She wants to remind everyone how a "democrat lawmaker's son" (surely she meant Democratic, no?) did an awful thing, nine months ago.

Who says you can only be martyred once? Palin will be a martyr forever, or until the American people finally elect her to high office to make her finally stop (actually she'll still be martyr even then).

Click here to listen to the voice mail.

Pundits said yesterday the exposed Palin emails don't show any official business in the Yahoo accounts. Here's the discussion on trial attorney Greta Van Susteren's Fox News show:

The thing is, though, Palin's staff haven't even bothered to deny there's been some official business flowing through Yahoo Mail. Though Palin recently pledged to govern with "a servant's heart," her press secretary this week said, when asked about the private accounts, that Alaskans don't need a transparent government because "the final decisions will be public."

"I don't hear any public clamor for access to internal communications of the governor's office," he told the Anchorage Daily News for an article about the Yahoo accounts and how they made it hard to enforce state freedom of information laws.

In other words, the executive branch has the right to deliberate and keep a wide array of secrets, regardless of some ill-considered public access rules. That assertion is basically what Dick Cheney has been saying for the past eight years to justify the Bush Administration's culture of secrecy.

And in fact it's what Cheney was whispering in President Gerald Ford's ear 30 years ago to get him to veto a strengthening of the Freedom Of Information Act, which even then had been neutered by a succession of Republican executive branches. The National Security Archive has a great summary of the Ford Administration's thinking at the time (spoiler: despite the efforts of Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and Antonin Scalia, Ford's veto was overridden by Congress).

The difference now is that email technology makes this old battle more complicated to fight. There are basically two ways forward.

One is to retreat at least somewhat from the open access laws enacted in the 1960s and 1970s. Allow, perhaps, government email to remain secret for a year or two, after which point a wider-than-ever array of communications must be made public.

The other is for reformist liberals to take a cue from Gerald Ford's Congress and enact laws and penalties tough enough to ensure the government can't thumb its nose at access laws already on the books — thus making slightly less laughable the idea of government officials acting as "servants" to taxpayers.

The presidential election will likely help determine which path wins out — though it may yet be settled by computer hackers and other distractions.

[Slate]

To prevent abuse of the service - such as the occasional bomb threat or other illegal act that's been known to happen - [webmatser Gabriel] Ramuglia logs each user's IP address, along with the time and web destination. That often isn't enough to track down people who access extremely popular websites. But in this case, the perpetrators included a whole string of random-looking characters when posting screenshots of Palin's hacked account. That will probably be enough for him to pinpoint the proverbial needle in the haystack.

"...I should be able to find that in my log."

This will only help catch the hacker if he didn't do something else to mask his identity, like use a second anonymizing service. And if the hacker really is from the relatively experienced Church of Scientology antagonists at Anonymous, it seems unlikely he was that sloppy.

[Register]

First, an email from Lieutenant Governor Sean Parnell (currently running to unseat Don Young in the US Congress). Sean writes Sarah to complain about Alaska talk radio host Dan Fagan. Parnell apparently told Fagan that he supported Palin's oil tax plan, called "Alaska's Clear and Equitable Share," or ACES. As a sate legislator, Parnell was anti-tax. Of course Alaska is a semi-socialist oil state, so the ACES tax is pretty standard fare, but Fagan apparently caught Parnell in the trap of having to support his governor as she taxed the beloved oil industry.

From: Sean personal2
To: Sarah's Personal Email
Sent: Jul 23, 2008 5:40 PM
Subject: Re: Looks like it's my turn in dan's crosshairs

Yesterday, as I set the record straight on my support for you and my ads, Fagan asked if I supported ACES. I told him I did, gave my reasons why and now he's replaying it over and over next to my ad where I tell people I'm for lower taxes. (which was my legislative history, voted against a state income tax, fought Tony's long range financial plan that included five new taxes, didn't raise taxes when oil was at 9 dollars a barrel, cut spending instead.)

It got ugly and will be.

Sarah responds, semi-coherently, arguing that Parnell's taxes dodge shouldn't matter next to his commitment to "life issues."

Thursday, July 24, 2008 2:14 AM

From: gov.palin@yahoo.com
To: "Sean personal2"
Subject: Re: Looks like it's my turn in dan's crosshairs

Arghhh! He is so inconsistent and purposefully misleading! I am sorry Sean. He can keep trying, but you are the right one for the congressional position and he KNOWS it (that's the inconsistency!)…remember how he said it all only really matters on matters like LIFE, honesty, ability, etc…all those things you are (as opposed to attributes of your opponents)? He knows you fit all of this, and conservatives', and Alaskans' criteria. His fighting you reveals some evil stuff going on with him. Does he want someone OPPOSED to the life issue in Congress? NOT capable of working with both parties? NOT experienced and capable and standing strong on all the right issues?

I am so sorry he does this.

Next up, an email from Palin friend Amy McCorkell. McCorkell, of Wasilla, is an "office worker and fitness instructor" and some time "private legal investigator" hired by Palin first as an investigator with the Alaska Public Defender Agency and then appointed by Palin to the Governor's Advisory Board on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse.

Sunday, September 14, 2008 6:51 PM
From: "Amy McCorkell" yooper@mtaonline.net
To: gov.palin@yahoo.com
Subject: HI SARAH

Hey Sarah,

I am reading the paper, and have thoughts and prayers going your way……..don't let the negative press wear you down! Pray for me as well. I need strength to 1. keep employment, 2. not have to choose

Lately I just pray may God's will be done. I am trying to learn patience and to listen to God.

I pray he gives you energy! Strength!

Love, Amy

We have no clue what "choice" Amy is praying not to have to make here. Nor do we know what happened to her cushy job on the alcohol board! But we learned a lot: like newspapers are evil and should be prayed at until they go broke.

Ok, sad thing first: a good Samaritan reset the password and tried to alert Sarah. But he also posted the new password, causing multiple people to try to log in at once, freezing the account for 24 hours. And now, the account has been deleted! Which is, as we said, maybe destruction of evidence? So for now this is, we think, all we'll get to see from this email account (if anyone finds evidence of saved emails, let us know.)

The full timeline of events, with corroborating evidence of the legitimacy of these screengrabs, is here. Here's why it all looks convincing:

• The emails to Ivy Frye, a Palin aide who's mentioned in the earlier email stories specifically wondering how best to hide her correspondence with the governor.
• The attached contact list (below) features an email address for husband Todd Palin that is legit. As well as an apparently genuine phone number for Bristol Palin and an address for Beth Leschper, Palin's deputy communications director.
• The email from Amy McCorkell, a known associate of Palin's from Wasilla who might have the governor's personal email address.
• Emails to and from Lt Governor Sean Parnell about a local radio talk host.
• Calls to the phone number listed for Bristol Palin apparently go to her voicemail.
• The public profile for the gov.palin address dates its last update to April of this year—well before she became McCain's running mate. So if it's a hoax, it's a hoax that began long before anyone outside of Alaska cared about Palin.
• We haven't seen these family photos before. Have we?
• The previously accessible public profiles for gov.sarah@yahoo and gov.palin@yahoo were both deleted at the same time.

Here are the screenshots of the emails saved before the account went dark, along with the contact list. It's newsworthy and we will not be taking it down!

CONTACT LIST

Beth Leschper (Beth Leschper SOA) [Edit]
beth.leschper@alaska.gov
Blanche Kallstrom (Blanche) [Edit]
mbkrdk@starband.net
Bristol Palin (Bristol) [Edit]
bristol_palin@hotmail.com
Chuck Heath (Chuck) [Edit]
chckheath@yahoo.com
fek9wnr@yahoo.com (Todd) [Edit]
fek9wnr@yahoo.com
ftb907@yahoo.com (Frank) [Edit]
ftb907@yahoo.com
Heather Bruce (Heather) [Edit]
khbruce@gci.net
ivy.frye@alaska.gov (Ivy SOA) [Edit]
ivy.frye@alaska.gov
ivyfrye@yahoo.com (Ivy Personal) [Edit]
ivyfrye@yahoo.com
Judy Patrick (Judy Patrick) [Edit]
jpphoto@mtaonline.net
kris.perry@alaska.gov (Kris Perry SOA) [Edit]
kris.perry@alaska.gov
krisandclark@yahoo.com (Kris Personal) [Edit]
krisandclark@yahoo.com
paymckhea@yahoo.com (Molly) [Edit]
paymckhea@yahoo.com
Roseanne Hughes (Roseanne Hughes SOA) [Edit]
roseanne.hughes@alaska.gov
Sally Heath (Mom) [Edit]
salheath@mtaonline.net
Sean Parnell (Sean Personal) [Edit]
sparnell@alaska.com
Sharon Leighow (Sharon SOA) [Edit]
sharon.leighow@alaska.gov
Sleighow@aol.com (Sharon Leighow Personal) [Edit]
Sleighow@aol.com
Track Palin (Track) [Edit]
track_44@hotmail.com

UPDATE:

ARLINGTON, VA — Today, McCain-Palin 2008 Campaign Manager Rick Davis issued the following statement concerning reports about Governor Palin's email and an invasion of privacy:
"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."

Point one: legitimacy confirmed! Point two: I guess we'll have to blow up the internet now?