Remember Watergate? And I don't mean that it was the event that gave the world "-gate" as a cheap scandal suffix.
The 1972 break-in at the Democratic headquarters at the Watergate Hotel in Washington ultimately led to the impeachment procedings and resignation of President Richard Nixon.
What you're about to read here is nothing less than a high-tech version of Watergate. And it stinks to high hell.
Infiltration of files seen as extensiveWHERE IS THIS STORY BESIDES THE BOSTON GLOBE? The main page at the otherwise useful Google News still leads with Dean Scream, and this story is NOWHERE. Nothing at CNN. Nothing at ABCNews. Nothing at MSNBC. Nothing at CBSNews. And do we even need to mention FoxNews and XXXXX Mr. Developing Story, Matt Drudge XXXXX?
Senate panel's GOP staff pried on Democrats
By Charlie Savage, Globe Staff, 1/22/2004
WASHINGTON -- Republican staff members of the US Senate Judiciary Commitee infiltrated opposition computer files for a year, monitoring secret strategy memos and periodically passing on copies to the media, Senate officials told The Globe.
From the spring of 2002 until at least April 2003, members of the GOP committee staff exploited a computer glitch that allowed them to access restricted Democratic communications without a password. Trolling through hundreds of memos, they were able to read talking points and accounts of private meetings discussing which judicial nominees Democrats would fight -- and with what tactics.
The office of Senate Sergeant-at-Arms William Pickle has already launched an investigation into how excerpts from 15 Democratic memos showed up in the pages of the conservative-leaning newspapers and were posted to a website last November.
Give 'em several months, and they'll do a story on how sloppy the Democrats are with their computers.
