Minnesota Independent

Wikileaks, IT pro not ‘in any danger’ in Coleman leak, lawyer says

By Paul Schmelzer | 03.16.09 | 4:19 pm

Federal law leads the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s civil liberties director to believe that neither the IT consultant who found Norm Coleman’s donor database online nor the Web site that leaked it did anything illegal. Fodder for the argument: a similar case in California where authorities decided not to pursue charges when controversial conversations by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s were downloaded by political opponents.

Media begins countering claim that Coleman site was hacked

By Paul Schmelzer | 03.12.09 | 11:20 am

There’s a divide opening in how the media is covering the story of Norm Coleman’s vulnerable donor database: Some outlets blame shoddy security practices by the campaign, others blame “hackers.” The latter group — which includes

Coleman’s site wasn’t ‘hacked,’ says IT pro who discovered donor breach

By Paul Schmelzer | 03.11.09 | 12:59 pm

Former U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman’s campaign spokesman Cullen Sheehan suggests that the publication of a campaign donor database on Wikileaks.org is the work of politically motivated individuals who have “found a way to breach private and confidential information” and may be a “political dirty trick.” MinnPost’s Joe Kimball echoes the sentiment, attributing the discovery of the unprotected database to “some hackers.” But according to the IT professional who first called attention to the exposed donor database, the site wasn’t hacked at all.