Those of you with actual lives may have missed the story of Congressman Anthony Weiner (D-NY), whose online privacy was ruthlessly hacked this weekend. Let Iowahawk bring you up to speed:
The Weinergate facts, as we so far know them: on May 28, @RepWeiner, the verified Twitter account of US Congressman Anthony Weiner (D-NY), posted a tweet of a y.frog photo of a slightly-built white male straining to pitch a pup tent in a pair of grey Hanes Underoos. Within seconds, Congressman Weiner arrived at the scene of the cybercrime and instantly recognized it as the work of a hacker who had simultaneously broken into his Twitter, Facebook and y.frog accounts. Working quickly, and without regard to his own safety, Congressman Weiner used his elite law school-honed internet security coding skills to wrest back control of his accounts, delete the offending tweet and photo, as well as unfollow a Seattle coed to whom it was sent. His Twitter perimeter once again secured, the intrepid Congressmen sent out a new tweet explaining how he was victimized by an Internet criminal mastermind.
Since the incident, the famously modest Congressman Weiner had remained demure on how he single-handedly thwarted his anonymous attacker, and how the attacker managed to possibly steal his Blackberry camera phone. And, for whatever reason, has thusfar also chosen not to involve the law enforcement authorities.
All things considered, the congressman got off rather lightly. In Bangladesh, where his online presence has not so far penetrated, this sort of crime has a much more ominous tone.
The simultaneous takeover could have happened. He probably had the same password on all three accounts — “IaMs0aW3S0m3″
This one is too easy…… Stand by for incoming puns!
Weiner is a Dick (pun INTENDED)and everybody knows it. “Chip Ahoy” over at Ann Althouse summed up his personality best: “Have you ever heard the guy talk? It’s like being in a pool with a bunch of hungry otters!”
And notice Weiner isn’t calling for an FBI investigation–this was a Govt. issue Blackberry, I believe, with official govt information stored on it, along w. the fact Weiner has a security clearence–mainly ’cause lying to the FBI is a felony. This could be settled instantly. Twitter, Facebook and y.frog ALL could reveal the IP of who logged onto their network and posted, but Weiner hasn’t asked them to do THAT, either. Plus all are run by people of the “liberal” bent, so they ain’t exactly leaping up to volunteer, are they? Which ordinarily would be bad business sense, wouldn’t it? I mean, here is a prominent public figure slandering their companies claiming their private links can be so easily hacked. News like that might drive off customers, and one would think they would therefore make every effort to assure both their current and potential customer base by either, a) disclosing the fact it was Weiner, or b) very publicly announcing they had located and fixed the security problem, n’cest-ce pas? As well as notifying the authorities of the names & addresses of the miscreants. But they’re doing NONE OF THAT.
Weiner is not just a Dick–he’s a TOTAL Dick.
Lying to the FBI is a Felony for you or I -not for the Royalty.
Kind of like paying taxes.
This episode, and the egregious double-standard of coverage by the MSM, is just a foretaste of the upcoming campaign and elections.
And media bias? Can you pronounce John Ensign or Mark Foley? If Weiner had an “R” behind his name it would have been IMMEDIATE wall-to-wall 24/7 coverage–even on a holiday weekend.
VX – I hate to ruin your day, but Members of Congress DON’T have security clearances.
This apparently goes back to World War II when J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI were responsible for doing the background investigations and issuing the clearance.
J. Edgar, being more interested in his own job security, than in national security, announced that HE wasn’t going to investigate Congressmen (several of whom were Communists, and many more were communist sympathizers) and had decided that Members of Congress were “deemed” to have both the clearance, and the need to know, any, and all, classified information.
That way he didn’t pi$$ off some powerful Congressmen who controlled his budget (and his job security). But he sure left the door open for some real scuzzballs to have regular access to our Nation’s secrets.
Good point, Marine 6. Of course “access to” is same same “formal security clearance” from a functionally equivalent pov, eh? (throwing in a nod to our Canadian friends
)
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/secrecy/RS20748.pdf
Is a pretty good summary of the clearance issue.
In the 1994 Contract with America, on the first day of their majority in the House, the Republicans promised to pass eight major reforms, the first being:
1. Require all laws that apply to the rest of the country also apply to Congress.
IMO, Congress will not pass this type of reform without blood being shed, just as they will not allow Term Limits to pass (as a Federal Mandate).
Why should they? They have a pretty good gig, they make the laws that others have to obey, and a virtual lock on job security.
No Cameras in the ADMIN!
“Overheard” at Althouse by POGO: “I heard that Sen. Boehner hacked Rep. Weiner’s account.”
“So–is that photo a Wiener or a Boehner?”
LOL
Alas, VX, strike two. It’s pronounced BAY-nor, not BONE-er.
German name, don’tcha know.
I know, I know, but it’s more fun the other way, Casey.
picky, picky, picky..
Soe people just don’t wancha to have any fun!
I guessed you might, but an amazing number of people really do pronounce it BONE-er, before they learn better.
Hey, I live in the man’s district; gotta defend him, right?
What strikes me is that so many people have so much time to spend on so little an issue.
This is what happens when one attempts to Tweet one-handed.
And nothing will happen to this smarmy little crapweasel. The LSM has bought and is repeating his “I was hacked” line of BS.
What’s truly infuriating is how Republicans in Congress are giving him much more of a break than he ever would for them. The GOP truly is the Stupid Party.
Amen to the “Stupid Party” bit, butch. You should have seen the CNN troops falling over themselves today to classify it as “just a little fun” and “much ado about nothing” etc. The attorney Jeffrey Toubin (WHAT a Weasel!) took the line that the conservatives shouldn’t even be given any air-time to voice their charges, so “insignificant” was the whole affair. The standard “nothing to see here, move right along briskly” bit.
Oh, and you’re in error about one aspect, butch. The MSM (LED by Weiner) have TOTALLY backed off the word “hacked” (it’s a federal crime, dontcha know, and might therefore require an official investigation) and now use only “harmeless prank”/”bit of fun” to characterize the actions that took place.
To be honest, VX, I think it’s fairly trivial myself. Sleazy? Quite likely, but if we kicked out all the sleazy members of Congress it would get mighty lonely.
I will agree that the MSM would go totally librarian-poo if this had come from a Republican candidate.
Butch, “What’s truly infuriating is how Republicans in Congress are giving him much more of a break than he ever would for them. The GOP truly is the Stupid Party.”
The R’s are still, for the most part, just the Democrat Lite Party. The Weiner episode is yet another example of why I want the most radical, not afraid to be combative, electable conservative candidate for President and not just another R that is a D in sheeps clothing.
I have no desire to see the twitpik but it sounds like our humble host at least tagged / categorized this event correctly under “small stuff”…
I’ve always thought of Weiner as Schmuck, I mean, Chuck Schumer’s butt plug.
You’ve all seen the picture. It’s ‘No Big Thing’! IYKWIMAITYD.
“Shrinkage! I was not told there would be shrinkage!”
/G. Costanza
Chris, I’m reminded of the scene from Maid in Manhattan, wherein two maids encounter a naked guest, who (unconvincingly) claims not to have known anyone was in his suite; maid 1 replies “Don’t worry about it, Mr. Monty. It’s no big deal. And I do mean…” followed by maid 2 “…No big deal.” With little hand gestures.
I taught my 3 daughters that the appropriate response to an unwanted exposure is the line from Thelma and Louise.
“Looks like a penxs,… only smaller.”
Presumably, if they check the penis for fingerprints they can then identify the owner? Is that how it works?