What We Can Learn From Two Politicians Brought Down by SMS
October 30, 2008 by Rico Mossesgeld
Filed under Cellphones, Tricks
The cases of Ilkka Kanerva and Kwame Kilpatrick are proof that text messages can come back to haunt you.
It’s fitting that a politician in Finland—home to #1 cellphone maker Nokia—would be embroiled in an SMS-related scandal. Mr. Kanerva was forced to resign as the Minister of Foreign Affairs, after records surfaced showing he sent hundreds of text messages to an “erotic dancer” from his work phone. And this wasn’t the first time he played footsie via SMS. Personally, I don’t know why the Finns got so worked up over Mr. Kanerva’s actions. There was no proven misuse of funds or criminal behavior on his part, right?
We can’t say the same for Kwame Kilpatrick, former Mayor of Detroit. While the text messages publicized here feature “simply” the illicit conversations between two grown adults (Kilpatrick was having an affair with his aide), at least one of them links to an alleged case of misuse of authority. Kilpatrick was always a subject of scrutiny over his use of city funds, but it looks like the virtual paper trail left by his text messages finally did him in.
What can learn from the fall of these two prominent personalities? Simply this: if you can’t share the info with anyone else, don’t pass it along via SMS. At the very least, your service provider will have a record of your messages.
(images from Wikipedia)
Busted by their own text messages–love it!