Despite Rumors, Republican VP Candidate Is No Hacker
Is Sarah Palin a hacker? Well, not exactly, but that’s what a couple of articles and a nascent internet rumor might have you believe.
According to a 2007 article in Salon about Alaska’s frontier politics, Palin, Senator John McCain’s pick for his Republican running mate in the presidential election, “began her political career … by hacking into the computer” of a co-worker in 2003.
Sounds intriguing, and possibly illegal, doesn’t it?
Except there’s more to the story than this.
According to the piece, Palin hacked a computer belonging to Randy Ruedrich, chairman of the Republican Party at the time and a fellow commissioner on Alaska’s Oil and Gas Commission. She did it in order to uncover evidence of ethical wrongdoing on Ruedrich’s part.
A noble motive, no doubt, but something that would still be considered illegal. That is, if you stopped reading there.