Originally Posted by El_Gringo_Grande

You used the word "terrorism" with regard to this act.

Yes I did. I imagine that if a series of Democratic candidates had been attacked in this manner we'd be hearing all about terrorism, and if there turned out to be a relationship between the hackers and a campaign using their services or providing them any support, I'd agree with them.

And you also said that poor republicans are the target of the evil doers. You took it to such a ridiculous level, almost to the point of a National Security issue. I took your silliness and ran with it.

I never took it to this ridiculous level of national security. But I have noticed a pattern of Republican candidates' websites hacked, ssn and credit reports stolen, and now emails hacked. I have not seen examples of Democratic candidates being subjected to the same attacks.

This act is not a horrible thing that must be hunted down with CIA operatives. It is more like graffiti or kids breaking into school to cause some havoc.

Actually it's like someone breaking federal laws in order to affect the outcome of a national election. I do take this very seriously. Who are these people and do we really want them either 1. swinging an election to their preferred side or 2. so offending swing voters that the election swings away from a candidate who they may support but who had no knowledge of their actions and is also offended by them?

Of course the perpetrators should be tracked down and punished. Nobody is suggesting otherwise.

No, you just laugh about it and trivialize it.

These people, whoever they are, did not break into the DoD and obtain nuclear launch codes. They got into an Yahoo! email account. Probably by scanning unencrypted traffic to get her password because she accesses the pop service and doesn't use the security Yahoo! recommends. Or they used some good old fashion social engineering. No weapons where used, no lives threatened. And actually very little harm done. Doesn't make it right or acceptable but it surely is not on par with a physical assault.

Of course it's not like a physical assault. It's like Watergate. Some jerks conducted illegal activities in order to gain an advantage for one side in a US Presidential election. What remains to be seen is if there was any connection to the top and if so what actions the top takes.

There is no indication whatsoever that it was instigated by the Democrats.

Au contraire. It most certainly was not instigated by the Republicans. It is very unlikely that the Green Party did this. Means, motive, and opportunity point to Obama's volunteer band of internet cowboys, surfing the forums for this or that and responding to shape the conversation. This is not to imply that anyone received direction from Obama to hack anyone email account, but does anyone really think that these people are anyone but Obama supporters?

You seem to really, really want to make this connection for your own personal reasons. Then you say if the Democrats keep doing this the then the Republicans will start. Nixon is the granddaddy of this all and he is what? Come on, you can say it. It will only hurt for a second.

Nixon broke the law and was correctly run out of office for it. Campaigns are little wars that get fought and this sort of covert, illegal hacking will either be crushed out of existence or all sides will adopt these tactics. I'm just making a prediction, not a judgment.

Listen. I said earlier it is either a hoax or it is a invasion of privacy. Invasion of privacy is not a haha phrase, is it? I think it is a pretty serious statement.

If someone hacks MY email account, it's an invasion of privacy. If someone hacks a presidential candidate's email account and publishes their findings to a web site that attacks that candidate, then it's not an invasion of privacy, it's an attempt to alter the outcome of a national election.