# What do the Palin emails at... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 19, 2008, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-palin-emails-at/464331 "2008-09-19T17:00:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-palin-emails-at/464331/1 "2008-09-19T17:00:19Z")
> **[Palin's Email Account Hacked (PHOTOS)](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/palins-email-account-hack_n_127184)** > > Palin's Email Account Hacked (PHOTOS) say? I hope the mods don’t claim it’s illegal for Dopers with the requisite computer skills to make the emails legible and then share their contents with us. WTF, they’re there for the taking at the link above. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-palin-emails-at/464331/2 "2008-09-19T17:03:44Z")
The wikileaks link in that article has fully readable images. Not that I thinks its particularly acceptable reading them. The only relevant this whole thing has to the election is do you really want someone who thinks it OK to conduct offical gubenatorial business from free yahoo emaila ccount, incharge of offical secrets ? ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-palin-emails-at/464331/3 "2008-09-19T17:04:03Z")
On second thought, the emails are probably as vapid as she is ETA Oops. simulpost. ---
**Author:** ![unspun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b9bd4f/32.png) [@unspun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/unspun)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-palin-emails-at/464331/4 "2008-09-19T18:12:48Z")
They’re available for dl here: [DepositFiles](http://depositfiles.com/en/files/8057021) Can’t be bothered to dl myself so I have no idea what’s in them. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-palin-emails-at/464331/5 "2008-09-19T18:25:26Z")
[All the screenshots are here](http://wikileaks.org/wiki/Sarah_Palin_Yahoo_account_2008) There’s nothing at all interesting in them. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-palin-emails-at/464331/6 "2008-09-19T18:33:09Z")
As an aside, I’ve been amused at how the media has been simultaneously describing in detail what was in the emails, and even showing some of the screenshots, while simultaneously decrying the “invasion of privacy.” Fox News is especially hilarious in that it’s leading a crusade to prosecute wikileaks for hosting the screenshots. There was one guest on Fox last night (I don’t know her name but she’s an attractive, blonde lawyer who is a frequent guest and lives in a state of perpetual outrage), who was --you guessed it, “outraged” at the invasion of privacy. She actually said the following line: “I’ve read the emails. They’re very personal.” ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-palin-emails-at/464331/7 "2008-09-19T18:36:04Z")
Don’t bother downloading. The zip file is password protected. Amyhow, whoever hacked that email account is an idiot. Personally, I would have bought a very cheap laptop and an old-school wireless card with cash, gone to a free WiFi hotspot a couple hundred miles away, access the account with a European proxy, and synched up the email with an email client such as Thunderbied. Screenshots alone are lame. ---
**Author:** ![PuddingCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b4bc9f/32.png) [@PuddingCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PuddingCat)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-palin-emails-at/464331/8 "2008-09-19T19:54:05Z")
You can get them from here if you want. They’re not very interesting. [http://cryptome.org/palin-email.zip](http://cryptome.org/palin-email.zip) I’m not making a political comment, but I do find it rather silly (improper?) to be using a public email service for official business. tim ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-palin-emails-at/464331/9 "2008-09-19T19:58:53Z")
> [@trmatthe](#): > > You can get them from here if you want. They’re not very interesting. > > [http://cryptome.org/palin-email.zip](http://cryptome.org/palin-email.zip) > > I’m not making a political comment, but I do find it rather silly (improper?) to be using a public email service for official business. > > tim Inane’s more like it. Thanks for the link, but I’ll take your word that the emails are dull. ---
**Author:** ![gravitycrash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@gravitycrash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gravitycrash)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-palin-emails-at/464331/10 "2008-09-19T20:06:30Z")
> [@BarnOwl](#): > > [Palin's Email Account Hacked (PHOTOS) | HuffPost Latest News](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/17/palins-email-account-hack_n_127184.html) > > say? > > I hope the mods don’t claim it’s illegal for Dopers with the requisite computer skills to make the emails legible and then share their contents with us. WTF, they’re there for the taking at the link above. Yes, and I also hope that If you support Obama and Biden you feel the same way if something similar happens to them. ---
**Author:** ![TJVM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b38774/32.png) [@TJVM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TJVM)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-palin-emails-at/464331/11 "2008-09-19T20:11:40Z")
> [@trmatthe](#): > > I’m not making a political comment, but I do find it rather silly (improper?) to be using a public email service for official business. I believe that some government officials have begun doing this in order to evade record-keeping laws. Emails sent using official channels will presumably be archived somewhere by the government IT folks, and are then potentially available to investigators, political opponents, or open-records requests. A private email account, however, is under the official’s personal control, and outside “the system,” and thus harder (in theory) to get at. Of course, as seen in this case, things may not turn out as intended. I have no idea if this was Palin’s intent in using Yahoo mail. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-palin-emails-at/464331/12 "2008-09-19T20:15:36Z")
[sheepish]I’ve done the same thing myself (using public email instead of private). It’s also often because public email sysadmins frequently are running disasters. They got their jobs 20 years ago in some totally different field and are promioted because they know marginally more than the other public servants.[/sheepish] ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-palin-emails-at/464331/13 "2008-09-19T20:16:16Z")
> [@gravitycrash](#): > > Yes, and I also hope that If you support Obama and Biden you feel the same way if something similar happens to them. I can’t address politically rabid posts in this apolitical forum. :D:D:D ---
**Author:** ![Peanut\_Gallery](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/838e76/32.png) [@Peanut\_Gallery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanut_Gallery)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-palin-emails-at/464331/14 "2008-09-19T21:30:51Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > [sheepish]I’ve done the same thing myself (using public email instead of private). It’s also often because public email sysadmins frequently are running disasters. They got their jobs 20 years ago in some totally different field and are promioted because they know marginally more than the other public servants.[/sheepish] Understandable. But the person at the top of the food chain gets less sympathy. Even less when that person has shown a predilection for firing people at the drop of a hat. And decreasing even more when they obviously have much to hide. The hack was a dumb thing to do, but I’m pro-hack right now because it took something over-the-top to bring this issue (shady email habits) to the front page. (Well second page after “omg-the-sky-is-falling!” on page one.) With the added bonus that it binds her that much more to Bush’s style. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-palin-emails-at/464331/15 "2008-09-19T22:43:32Z")
> [@TJVM](#): > > I believe that some government officials have begun doing this in order to evade record-keeping laws. Emails sent using official channels will presumably be archived somewhere by the government IT folks, and are then potentially available to investigators, political opponents, or open-records requests. A private email account, however, is under the official’s personal control, and outside “the system,” and thus harder (in theory) to get at. Of course, as seen in this case, things may not turn out as intended. Here in Minneapolis, we have had a similar situation where the police are using personal cell phones (bought at a discount through the city) rather than the police radio system to communicate. They say this is sometimes faster than the city radio system\*, but it also has the effect of keeping their communications secret, and unavailable to any investigation or court subpoenas. \*It’s true that the city radio system is archaic. And the city, county, and state are spending millions to install a ‘new’ system (designed 10-15 years ago) that will be obsolete before it is even installed. That system has been phased out for commercial use, and the radios are not even manufactured or sold anymore, except to the police-fire market (the maker pushed this system lots a couple decades ago, and convinced a lot of them to buy into it). Off the shelf systems offered to the commercial delivery-truck market today offer much better features than this system, at much lower cost. But they plow ahead with installing this obsolete system!