I don’t know how many other state governors utilize yahoo.com email but I hope they will rethink this knuckleheaded practice after what has happened to Gov. Sarah Palin.

John McCain’s campaign said Wednesday it has contacted “appropriate authorities” over a report that Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin’s personal e-mail had been hacked.

“This is a shocking invasion of the Governor’s privacy and a violation of law,” campaign manager Rick Davis said in a statement. “The matter has been turned over to the appropriate authorities and we hope that anyone in possession of these emails will destroy them. We will have no further comment.”

The statement came hours after a user on the Web site WikiLeaks said he had gained access to Palin’s Yahoo e-mail account. Screenshots of the e-mail messages and photos of the Alaska governor’s family were published on that Web site and later on gossip Web site gawker.com.

FBI Spokesman Eric Gonzalez in Anchorage, Alaska confirms to CNN an investigation is underway.

“We are aware of the allegations and we are coordinating with Secret Service as far as the allegation that someone has hacked into Governor Palin’s personal e-mail account,” he said. “We are going to be working a joint investigation with Secret Service on this.”
Brian Hale, an FBI spokesman in Washington, also confirms the FBI has been contacted about the incident. Two federal law enforcement sources say the FBI and Secret Service would have concurrent jurisdiction normally on a matter such as this, but it remains to be seen if the Secret Service will take the lead on the investigation because Palin is a protectee.

The e-mails shown include one from July between Palin and Alaska Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell and another dated earlier this week from Amy McCorkell, the woman Palin appointed to the Governor’s Advisory Board on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse in 2007.

Palin has faced criticism for using a private e-mail account to conduct some state business – prompting critics to allege she was attempting to hide information from the public record.

 I don’t know if she was attempting to hide anything, but this is just a very naive thing for a public figure to be doing – even prior to her being chosen as John McCain’s running mate.

To me this belongs in “Knuckleheads in the News.”  Of course I’m not condoning anyone hacking her account – but given the opportunity, especially in the case of someone who has rocketed to national attention in such a short period of time, hackers are going to “do what they do.”