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I would say the Herald is getting back at the Slug.
Rawshark files: The blogger and the politician
Judith
Collins and blogger Cameron Slater appeared to have frequent contact
over the entire time she served in John Key's Cabinet, according to
electronic files obtained by the hacker Rawshark
4
Spetember, 2014
The Herald has
seen email records which appear to cover 2009 through to 2014.
The
files purport to include a discussion about the editing of Mrs
Collins' Wikipedia page with the then-minister sending Slater a new
image with the note: "Cam, any chance of a better photo going
up?? Eek it looks really bad."
The
records and the level of detail in the records are a stark contrast
to earlier claims Ms Collins and Slater made about Facebook
conversations being faked.
Ms
Collins said the previously released information were "likely
forgeries" and threatened a complaint to the police. Police have
confirmed no complaint has yet been made -- and Ms Collins has not
responded to subsequent inquiries from the Herald.
Requests
to Slater resulted only in an obscenity.
The
information supplied to theHerald by
the hacker Rawshark show a range of contact, from personal messages
to discussion about government information - and appear to include
incidences in which Ms Collins passed on information which Slater
then used to attack political opponents.
Nicky
Hager's book Dirty
Politics, based on the hacked exchanges, allege the
National Party used Whaleoil to carry out "attack politics"
to drive others out of the debate.
Instances
include the mocking of NZ First leader Winston Peters in February
2012, after he raised questions in Parliament about spending by the
Department of Corrections.
Mr
Peters tabled a letter in Parliament shortly before 3pm -- but by
3.42pm the letter was on the Whaleoil blog. That day, the hacker's
collections of records shows Ms Collins sent Slater the "document
tabled by Rt Hon Winston Peters in House".
Slater's
commentary on the blog post -- one of a number that day -- made
derogatory comments about Peters.
Ms
Collins also appears to have sent to Slater an email she received
from Labour's Trevor Mallard. The email had been sent accidentally by
Mr Mallard using "reply all" when responding to someone who
had emailed dozens of MPs.
Ms
Collins sent it on to Slater with the subject line: "Note to
self Trev, don't reply to all." It appeared on Slater's site
with the headline: "Note to self trev, don't hit reply to all,"
poking fun at a perceived lack of technical ability.
In
September 2013, Slater received another misfired email meant for
Labour MPs which had gone to Cabinet minister Amy Adams. It appears
to have been copied, sent to Ms Collins and then to Slater who used
it to make fun of the party's new leader David Cunliffe.
The
records also show discussion about information which could be
obtained under the Official Information Act.
Questions
have already been asked about two other OIA requests made by Slater.
There is an inquiry into a fast-tracked release of information from
the Security Intelligence Service. In a separate release, Slater was
sent a letter from David Bain's first lawyer containing damaging
allegations against his former client by Ms Collins' office on the
same day it was received.
The Herald's review
of material appear to show other discussions about the OIA.
In
2009, while Ms Collins was Corrections minister, she appears to have
told Slater "re the OIA" that she had been " alerted
to the fact that Corrections domestic travel seemed very high".
In
November 2010, Slater is said to have asked Collins: "Any news
on those dates for my OIA? Really want to catch those Labour guys
out."
In
September the following year, according to the Facebook records
questioned by Ms Collins and Slater, she was asked by the blogger:
"Have you got those details for my OIA about annette's
briefings."
The
records also appear to show Slater's contact was not just with Ms
Collins. In June 2010, the blogger, Ms Collins and then-press
secretary Stefan Herrick appear to have been part of an email chain
discussing the prospect of gaining early access to Ministerial
expenses.
Other
staff were also brought in during Slater's work on behalf of a
Russian immigrant couple. Through 2010, Slater appears to have passed
on references to Ms Collins, handled inquiries from her on their
behalf and also arranged a meeting with her through the blogger.
News
events were discussed -- Ms Collins appears to have sent on press
releases and links to news articles. In March 2010, the Herald ran
a story about a mother's heartbreak after her baby drowned during a
bath. The following day's story, which stated the mother had been
visited by CYFS, saw an email purporting to be from Ms Collins to
Slater saying: "How embarrassing for nzherald."
Correspondence
seems to have been occasionally driven by press releases. One from
the NZ Maori internet Society in late 2013 had Ms Collins purportedly
ask Slater: "So how is Maori internet different from the rest of
our internet."
There
were apparently also jokes at the expense of the Opposition, who were
often called by their nicknames. In August 2010, Ms Collins appears
to have told Slater "Pluggie (Clayton Cosgrove) now beaten up by
Geoff Robinson", sending on a Radio NZ link to an interview with
the Labour police spokesman.
Greens
call for Rich to step down
4
September, 2014
The
Green Party is calling for the Food and Grocery Council chief
executive to be sacked from the Government's Health Promotion Agency.
Katherine
Rich, a former National Party MP, was appointed by the National-led
Government to the public health organisation, which aims to inspire
New Zealanders to lead healthier lives.
Newly
released hacked emails appear to show Ms Rich was in contact with
WhaleOil blogger Cameron Slater and public relations executive
Carrick Graham who were attacking public health advocates and critics
of food companies.
Green
Party health spokesperson Kevin Hague said Ms Rich had to go.
"Katherine Rich, Carrick Graham and Cameron Slater have all been
involved in a systematic undermining of health promotion in New
Zealand. She cannot tenably remain on the board of that
organisation."
Health
Minister Tony Ryall said he was confident any conflicts were being
managed appropriately.
Do
I detect some approval of @Whaledum2 on the part of the writer –
with the link?
Whaledump makes return to Twitter
4
September, 2014
The
alleged hacker behind the suspended @Whaledump Twitter account
appears to have returned to the micro-blogging site just hours after
it was shut down.
The
original account was suspended earlier today after releasing
blogger Cameron Slater's hacked emails.
Late this morning more material was released on @Whaledump2.
The
emails formed the basis of Nicky Hager's book Dirty Politics and the
hacker Rawshark, whose identity is unknown, had been using the first
account to release more.
Slater,
who runs the right-wing Whale Oil blog which has been at the centre
of allegations on Hager's book, had complained to the police about
the theft of his emails.
He
also confirmed this morning he had complained to the micro-blogging
site because of "breach of copyright and breach of privacy ...
both against Twitter's rules".
He
also wrote on Twitter this morning that "@whaledump is dead...
good job".
A
police spokesman said the investigation was ongoing but confirmed
they were not involved in shutting the account down.
A
Twitter spokesman said it did not comment on personal accounts for
privacy and security reasons.
Several
Twitter accounts have emerged since the suspension purporting to be
the hacker, but Fairfax Media reporter Matt Nippert, who was in
contact with Rawshark for his story about the alleged links between
attack bloggers and financier Mark Hotchin, believes the account
@Whaledump2 is legitimate.
Documents
dumped from this account, concerning apparent links between Carrick
Graham and Slater and the liquor industry, are identical to those
provided two weeks ago hacker Rawshark. The account has also released
a number of other files.
The
emails led to the resignation of Justice Minister Judith Collinsand
saw Prime Minister John Key launch a government inquiry into the
allegations she was seeking to undermine then Serious Fraud Office
director Adam Feeley.
Collins denies the allegations.
The
intelligence watchdog is also looking into the release of
declassified information to Slater, denied to other media, which was
then used to attack then Labour leader Phil Goff.
Whaledump twitter account suspended
4
Spetember, 2014
Whaledump’s account
on Twitter has
been suspended.
Someone
is trying to lock the stable door after the horse has bolted.
Update:
@Whaledump2 is providing more dumps
see
No Right Turn: Let
the game of whackawhale commence!
Once again I’m astounded by how fast the police can act in defence of the powerful. Not. But if anyone thinks this stops anything, they’re wrong. Whaledump accounts are already proliferating across Twitter. While they’re probably all fake, eventually the real one will emerge. And as RawShark has been in contact with journalists, it should be easy to verify its authenticity (particularly if they’ve been using PGP). And then the dumping will commence again.
Update: That was quick – they’re back on @whaledump2. And if you have any doubts about their identity you can confirm it with PGP here.
lprent:
Exactly. This approach has about little hope of stopping any net
participant supported process. If they actually managed to trace
rawshark, then by this time there will certainly be stashes with
other people to push on the net in the event of a arrest. What they
will trigger now is a Streisand effect where people push up time
wasters to encourage the police to waste time.
There
is a general conciousness that this is material that needs to
deal with some net arseholes and their corrupting cretinous
paymasters. This is a net issue that is far more important than
the political effect. I’ve seen it happen before many times over
the networks. Much of the trivial political spinners from the media
and political systems haven’t realised yet that you seldom have to
police the net. It tends to do that itself rather effectively. John
Key and his corrupt ministers are really just collateral damage…
BlogWatch: Whaledump And Twitter Anarchy
4
Sptember, 2014
Twitter's
suspension of the @whaledump account today raises an interesting
question about the micro-blogging medium: Which accounts it suspends
and which ones it doesn't?
Whaledump
would appear to be in direct violation of Twitter's Content
Boundaries and Use of Twitter which
specify "You may not publish or post other people's private and
confidential information."
Clearly
Whaledump was publishing links to "private and confidential"
information in the form of stolen emails from Cameron Slater's Gmail
and Facebook accounts, so it does appear to breach the rules.
Following
that logic, will Twitter also suspend this account?
And
what about this Twitter account, which appears to do exactly the same
thing?
They
would appear, after all, to be accomplices in this breach of
Twitter's rules.
All
of these accounts and many, many more - including Radio New
Zealand - have been publishing links to copies of, or
discussions about, "private and confidential information"
in the form of stolen emails from Cameron Slater's Gmail and Facebook
accounts.
And
the best example of a Twitter account doing what Whaledump does is
the following, so why hasn't it been suspended?
Photo: Twitter
screenshotSo the question for Twitter is why has @whaledump been suspended when these other accounts have not, when they are all, on the face of it, guilty of the same breach of Twitter's rules?
We've
asked Twitter directly and are awaiting a response.
Twitter
will likely say it is because someone made a complaint. A complaint
that appears to have been dealt with very swiftly.
If
Cameron Slater makes a complaint about media accounts using Twitter
to point to details of emails stolen from his inbox, will those
accounts also be suspended?
If not, why not?
If not, why not?
The
irony is that @whaledump has simply created a new account in a game
of digital "whack-a-mole" and will just carry on. Another
complaint will be made, another account will be squashed, and another
Twitter account will be created.
And on and on it will go.
And on and on it will go.
So
the grief for Cameron Slater and Judith Collins will continue and no
doubt some people will enjoy that. But what if it was you? What if
your private emails, photos or Facebook discussions were hacked and
highlighted through Twitter?
What
this case appears to expose is that you, the police and even Twitter
itself are powerless to stop it.
And
so is this type of media anarchy what we really want? If not, the
only solution would appear to be to suspend Twitter?
If
it is, then may God help us all.
BlogWatch
is brought to you by New Zealand's public broadcaster, Radio New
Zealand.
And finally, if you want - listen to the right-wing 'pundits" on the Panel discuss the issue
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