So now that it’s hit the mainstream media (which means it’s Old News online), I’m sure you’ve all heard about Sarah Palin’s email getting “hacked.” I say “hacked” because the perpetrator didn’t really hack anything so much as know two or three easily obtainable pieces of information about a public figure. Palin should know know better and I don’t feel sorry for her. I’d like to comment further on the matter, but I think that, according to a mail that was distributed to all techs yesterday, I’m only allowed to say one of the following: “Yahoo! treats issues of security and privacy very seriously” or “To protect the privacy of our users, we are not able to comment on the details of a specific user account” or “Generally, if Yahoo! receives reports that an account has been compromised, we investigate for suspicious activity and take appropriate action” or “As the largest Web mail service in the US, Yahoo! Mail seeks to help educate consumers with online safety tips at security.yahoo.com.” I do have to say that my position as a Yahoo! email tech has put me in an unbelievably difficult predicament: The Palin camp claims the account has been deleted. Are they telling the truth? What was sitting in there? I’m two clicks away from finding out, eight full hours a day. Do I keep my job or check out Palin’s account? Yahoo! will be pleased to know that I have bills to pay (although the self-control involved in curbing this curiosity keeps my brow sweaty for my entire shift).

Anyway, the media surrounding the whole thing is hilarious, because it’s being pegged as politically motivated or that the “hacker” is a member of some extremist left-wing cyberterrorist group. C’mon, it’s /b/. They don’t care if she was potentially using free email services to circumvent the transparency of government emails, I’m sure the original idea was to Goatse everybody in her contacts. So Blubbering Vagina O’Reilly finally threw his two cents in and made the crucial mistake of pissing off The Internet Hate Machine.

Oh, he also made the crucial mistake of not understanding a very simple concept, despite it being drilled into his fat fucking head for four solid minutes, but that’s not why his site was hacked. In a hilarious turn of events, Bill O’Reilly’s site’s database was compromised and the PLAIN TEXT passwords of several hundred of his subscribers were posted online. Now, I’m sure anybody with a subscription to O’Reilly’s site probably isn’t a super-cool human being, but they don’t really deserve to have their information posted all over the net. I think the point should have been made clear to O’Reilly that you don’t make enemies with The Internet, but without the victimizing-his-moron-disciples part.

Whatever, still funny to me.