Palin’s Email: A Reasonable Expectation of Privacy

VP candidate Sarah Palin’s personal email account was hacked this week — selected screenshots, contact information and an index of her emails were sent to Wikileaks. On the surface, looking through these emails looks like a simple invasion of Palin’s privacy. There are family pictures, emails from friends and other material that I don’t think should be a matter of public interest.

But there is another issue that must be considered: federal authorities have already found that Palin used another personal email account to conduct state business. Using an unarchived email account to conduct government business is illegal. It isn’t looked upon as a poor decision, it isn’t borderline unethical — it’s illegal. The question is not an issue of privacy, although if Palin wants to keep her personal emails private, she’s welcome to maintain a separate, personal email account. Instead, the issue is that the U.S. government is accountable to voters. Citizens have the right to request all manner of information, from departmental memos, to transcripts of meetings, to emails dealing with government business. The government maintains archives of correspondence for just that purpose.

There are legal motions already in place — many dating from before McCain chose Palin as a running mate — to get access to emails in Palin’s personal email account. While I think it was wrong for a group of anonymous hackers to invade Palin’s privacy, her choice to use her personal email to conduct government business without a record is outright unethical.