GOP downplays reading of memos :(no rules broken): Globe

[jbfam4]

GOP downplays reading of memos
'Fact sheet' asserts no rules, laws broken
http://www.boston.com/news/politics/us_senate/articles/2004/01/23/gop_downplays_reading_of_memos/
By Charlie Savage, Globe Staff, 1/23/2004

WASHINGTON -- Although Senate Sergeant-at-Arms William Pickle's investigation into GOP surveillance of Democratic Judiciary Committee communications from 2002 to 2003 is not yet complete, Republicans are preemptively trying to head off any criminal charges or even ethics complaints in the Senate or the D.C. Bar.

The Committee for Justice, headed by C. Boyden Gray, a former senior White House counsel during the first Bush administration, this week began circulating a "fact sheet" arguing that no rules or laws were broken by Republican staffers who exploited a computer glitch on a shared server that allowed them to access memos written by their Democratic counterparts without having to enter a password.

However, Democrats, including Beryl Howell, a former general counsel for the Judiciary Committee who left the Hill a year ago and now runs the D.C. office of the cybersecurity consulting firm Stroz Friedberg, were quick to dispute each of the major points advanced by the Committee for Justice.

The opening salvos in the argument over the law and ethics are revealing because they frame whether Republican staffers, whom the Pickle investigation is likely to identify as knowing about and exploiting the glitch, will be vulnerable to punishment that could include firing, disbarment, or even a year in prison.

The argument advanced by the Committee for Justice is that the behavior did not violate the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1984, which makes it a criminal act to exceed one's authorization to access a government computer. It said staffers "were entitled to access their own desktop computers and committee network on which the documents were inadvertently disclosed" by the mistake of a Democratic technician.

[aquart]

1. Uh huh. And if it had been THEIR memos?

Never catch a Republican taking responsibility for anything. Except what they haven't done, like improve health care, education, and make the world safer.

[wryter2000]

2. George Orwell lives

Committee for Justice.

[MoonAndSun]

3. If the Dems in DC let this issue go by the wayside then I will throw

up my hands go home.

Have any of the Dem candidates said anything about this story on the stump? I want them to start screaming to high heaven about this whenever they are in front of a camera.

Please, Dems in DC, show me that you still do have a spine and kick some repuke ass!!

[fjc]

5. I'd take the Bill Clinton approach...

Smile with charming condescension and say, "well, that's what they do," and move on. Much more effective.

[MisterC2003]

8. Smile condescendingly?

Sounds like the old DLC "roll over and spread 'em" response to Repub hijinks alrighty. THAT's been a real winner for us over the last few years. :eyes:

[11 Bravo]

4. By that logic ...

if one of these pricks ever forgets to lock their back door, we should feel free to enter their home and walk out with anything that isn't nailed down.

[benfranklin1776]

6. LOL. Good point!

"The argument advanced by the Committee for Justice is that the behavior did not violate the
Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1984, which makes it a criminal act to exceed one's
authorization to access a government computer. It said staffers "were entitled to access their own
desktop computers and committee network on which the documents were inadvertently disclosed"
by the mistake of a Democratic technician."

Using their "rationale" any individual is entitled to use of the public roads which are in turn connected to the driveway and walkway leading to the door of the house therefore, following their "rationale," any individual is permitted to follow the road into the driveway, up the walkway and through the door which was accidentally unlocked. Access to the public roads is enough to authorize burglary by their reasoning. This is hilarious stuff coming from the "party of personal responsibility"
Next it will be a memo saying that because Colson and company had access to the Watergate as members of the public they did not exceed their authorization by entering the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee.

[salin]

7. Is anyone beyond the Globe even reporting on this story?

I agree with those commenting on how different the tone of the GOP and the tone of the press would be if the roles had been reversed (that dems were doing the scavaging and leaking to repubs.)