Used BlackBerrys sold for $20 at McCain-Palin blowout, contacts and emails included

It's pretty much common sense that when you're ditching your old cell phone you want to erase your personal data, contacts and emails -- or at least try to. Oh sure, there are plenty of examples of failing to do so, but this one's rather... shall we say, "special." Some operatives at Fox 5 in Washington, D.C. booked over to the McCain-Palin campaign headquarters' yard sale yesterday, and they saw some ultra cheap Blackberrys -- just $20 a pop, probably an inventor's discount -- so they picked up a few, undoubtedly thinking they'd make nice holiday gifts. They were kind of surprised to find that, after giving the 'Berrys some juice, one of them had 50 contacts for "campaign leaders, politicians, lobbyists and journalists" as well as hundreds of emails. When reached for comment, a campaign spokesperson said that "procedures are being put in place to ensure all information is secure," followed minutes later by a blank email CC'd to his entire address book with the subject line "We're so screwed."

[i.c. weiner @ Dec 12th 2008 4:03PM]

Lol. I love the screen of the blackberry. the sad part is that i think that she WOULD do some thing like that

[tom @ Dec 12th 2008 4:15PM]

Attachment: top_secret.PDF ????

Come ON...who is stupid enough to name the file that? Btw, I hope her e-mail password isn't "password" or "IRA" or "alaska"

[i.c. weiner @ Dec 12th 2008 4:18PM]

Irish Republican Army?

[LC @ Dec 12th 2008 4:21PM]

I'm pretty sure that picture is a photoshop Tom. It isn't anywhere in the article.

[El Taco @ Dec 12th 2008 5:16PM]

@tom

It's "maverick"

[MED @ Dec 12th 2008 10:11PM]

That is of coarse if she were smart enough to use a blackberry.

[kevin @ Dec 13th 2008 11:12AM]

Nothing like insulting the IQ of someone else while having no idea how to spell. Well done, Med.

[Jon Doe. @ Dec 14th 2008 1:25AM]

The point still stands. If Caribou Barbie is stupid enough to have a password so insecure that someone could hack it I question if she has the intelligence to run a crackberry.

[James @ Dec 14th 2008 2:42PM]

Its an example you know.

[prateeko @ Dec 12th 2008 4:07PM]

Hey, uh, Cindy?

Yeah baby, it's J-Mac, I kinda got lost, you wanna send over the jet and $100,000 cash? I wanna get a surprise gift for Joe that plumba dude but I can't find my amex...

[Matt @ Dec 12th 2008 4:13PM]

its JTP, not Joe the Plumber.

[haX0r @ Dec 13th 2008 2:36AM]

That is fucking great! What else do you expect from n00bs?

[Smac @ Dec 12th 2008 4:10PM]

"McCain-Palin campaign headquarters' yard sale"? Does that sound right?

[Relyt @ Dec 12th 2008 4:11PM]

No, It doesn't.

[someguy7234 @ Dec 12th 2008 5:56PM]

seriously... do they have yards in alaska? More like frozen lake sale, or igloo extravaganza.

[loocas @ Dec 12th 2008 4:11PM]

PWNAGE!

[StalematE @ Dec 12th 2008 4:13PM]

haha, inventors discount. el oh el.

[andres @ Dec 12th 2008 5:20PM]

did you know, gods of death love apples

[thomas @ Dec 12th 2008 4:14PM]

BUH!

[rainygrass @ Dec 12th 2008 4:21PM]

top_secret.PDF
don't have imagination to come up a more real name for the file?

[thomas @ Dec 12th 2008 4:27PM]

i think thats the point..................................

[Chris @ Dec 12th 2008 4:24PM]

I want a BB for $20. gimme

[Jarek @ Dec 12th 2008 5:58PM]

IIRC from an earlier article, these are 7000-series Blackberries. $20 is pretty much what they're worth these days. If you don't need the latest Bold/Storm/Curve 8900 shininess, the price of a BIS/data contract to bring it to full functionality will be far higher than the price of the device itself.

[Jason @ Dec 12th 2008 6:50PM]

You'll shootcher eye out, kid!

[linuxamp @ Dec 13th 2008 1:38AM]

To get that price you have to sign a 10 year contract with the republican party. Early cancellation is punishable by torture.

[thedesolate1 @ Dec 12th 2008 4:25PM]

Sweet now all you have to do is plug them via usb as mass storage and then use recovery software to extract all the data. Unless they used the guttman method to wipe the devices. I am not sure what kind of encryption the blackberry uses though. Resourceful and creative 1337 hackers that have an interest in top secret government data should hop on this right now... Considering that the McCain campaign is computer illiterate this might be a golden opportunity.

[fieldcar @ Dec 12th 2008 4:54PM]

I didn't think blackberries had hard drives. Besides that, flash has no residual traces like a hard disk platter does and guttman is useless today as data density has greatly increased. DoD 3 pass is good for most home users, and NSA 9-pass is basically flawless.

[Shadyman @ Dec 12th 2008 5:58PM]

@Fieldcar:

I hate to break it to you, but while Flash storage /may/ not leave any residuals, the filesystem is a typical FAT-based one, so any 'deleted' data isn't actually 'deleted', just the FAT entry is.

See also: Digital camera memory card recovery software.

There's also a large market for shredding of old blackberries, mainly because there is no "easy" way to wipe them securely. Any company whose employees are privvy to top-secret data will have procedures in place to shred their blackberries when said employee leaves the company, or when the blackberries are upgraded. Ditto with hard drives.

[thedesolate1 @ Dec 12th 2008 6:38PM]

@fieldcar.
Ever heard of USB mass storage?

[Bill @ Dec 12th 2008 4:30PM]

Yeah Palin what a joke. She said she could see Russia from Alaskan shores. Yet, actually, she never said that. She's so, so stupid...yet she accomplished more on her own, without pull or contacts, than the rest of you on these boards will for 4 generations. McCain's a bum, and choosing Palin was a mistake for his campaign...but it makes me laugh to see all of you dullards mouth the slanders and lies that have been heaped upon Palin...who had the audacity to be 1. Good looking, 2. Accomplished. 3 Republican.

The irony is those who repeat the propaganda and slander thrown at her, don't realize how g*ddamned stupid you reveal yourself to be; the spooky thing is most of you simply don't care. Truth, facts - doesn't matter. What matters is that we feel good about ourselves and we get our affirmation from benevolent Government and the Media, and all our friends think just the same way! Weeee! Liberalism is a mental disorder, make no mistake about it...and smile your vapid rictus of infantile certainty...

...but we who know are smiling much wider, internally. Have your fun kiddies, an reap the desolate whirlwind you have sown.

[Guy @ Dec 12th 2008 4:35PM]

Chill out man...

No need to strain something, this article is clearly more about the republicans utter lack of data protection

[KIFF @ Dec 12th 2008 4:37PM]

Palin? Good looking?

Really?

[Brazen521 @ Dec 12th 2008 4:49PM]

Relax, no one is attacking you. If you want to open minds, you should find somewhere other than the bottom of an engadget post.

[heavydevelopment @ Dec 12th 2008 4:51PM]

@Bill

Somehow I'm thinking you probably have a magazine with and Palin interview that mysteriously has the pages stuck together. I'm also surmising that they are the ones with her photos--just a guess.

[bo sneb @ Dec 12th 2008 4:51PM]

alright smart guy, you're so good at paying attention to the facts, then check this out...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nokTjEdaUGg

if she wasn't saying her proximity to russia bolstered her foreign policy experience, what exactly DOES "yes it does" mean in the context of this interview? wake up.

[fieldcar @ Dec 12th 2008 4:57PM]

Wait, so your not happy that the guy you voted for actually won? Some of you guys need to cheer up?
I personally wanted McCain to win, but I accept defeat respectfully, and honorably.

[Matt @ Dec 12th 2008 4:58PM]

Three words.... Katie Couric Interview. Anyways, this post is about the lask of security regarding digital information (just like the yahoo accounts from a while back).

[Bill @ Dec 12th 2008 5:20PM]

@Guy ...and another no-effort, weak-sister effort on the tired 'Boy is she Stupid' motif. Another reason I stopped watching the Daily show...at least try for some original humor.

@heavydevelopment ...um yea. Clever. Say, do you write for the daily show? Engadget is hiring, you betcha!

@ Brazen521 ....yes, good looking. 40+, 4 kids - I'm guessing your mother looks much better?

@ bo sneb ...you're right, saw that interview...she didn't perform well at all...but again, she never said that she could see Russia from her house; that was Tina Fey on SNL...yet many reporters quote that all the time as if she actually said it. Not incompetence on their part, but actual malice. And bo, try a little reading comprehension...choosing her was a poor descision, as I've said and I did not in fact vote for McLame....but hey, show the the hundreds of videos where the media asked the Democratic PRESIDENTIAL candidate just how much foreign experience he has...you won't find many, if any. Hmmmm....hammering the VP candidate on an irrelevant question that is somehow never asked to Pres. Elect Obama, the Media G*d-King? Bo, tell me, do you really not see any bias?

@ fieldcar ...I did not vote for McLame...and you're saying tolerating lies and slander because you voted for McLame and he lost, is honorable and respectful? Wow...no wonder the Republicans are in danger of becoming extinct.

@Matt ...no Matt, this post is yet another lame zero-effort dig at Palin, whom we all know is an ignorant hick...we all know that right? Sure we do!

[roberto luongo @ Dec 12th 2008 8:15PM]

quebequois prankster: hello, this is president sarkozy!
palin: hi mr. presdent, how nice of you to call!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsmIJuN225M
sarah palin being dumber than bill

[puhsitch @ Dec 12th 2008 11:16PM]

Of course, if Liberalism is a mental disorder, then Conservatism is too. The sanest approach is Moderat..ism(?) with ever-so-slight leeeeeanings in one direction or another.

[mdf @ Dec 13th 2008 10:28AM]

In her Sept. 11 interview with ABC's Charlie Gibson, Sarah Palin had this to say about Russia: "They're our next-door neighbors, and you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska, from an island in Alaska."
Check out http://www.slate.com/id/2200155/ for fun facts about this veracity of this statement.

[puhsitch @ Dec 13th 2008 6:21PM]

Ha, I can't believe I got voted down for advocating moderate politics. Seriously, though, people should try to avoid following ideological polarity; keep an open mind about competing viewpoints.

[Pyrofallout @ Dec 12th 2008 4:32PM]

Oh God. You mean they weren't smart enough to have a password policy on these devices that forces a wipe upon 10 unsuccessful passwords like most corporate Blackberries?

[a ham sandwich @ Dec 12th 2008 4:38PM]

well you know it wasn't McCain's!

[Zinger314 @ Dec 12th 2008 4:41PM]

To: Sarah Pallin
From: Ralph Nader
Subject:

[ace587 @ Dec 12th 2008 4:50PM]

sell these blackberries to me, i wont care unless its Sarah Palin's pictures inside

[Jimmy Jones @ Dec 12th 2008 4:56PM]

Apparently John McCain was computer literate..eh, may be I should say technology-aware........ This would have make him a better candidate... only if he had waved his BB during one of the campaign stops.... :-)

[Artem G @ Dec 12th 2008 5:14PM]

I would pay BIG money for that BB...can you imagine all the bathroom reading material that would be in there?

[John @ Dec 12th 2008 5:19PM]

Exchange based blackberries can be remote wiped. Some staffer screwed up but this guy had better write down what he wants to keep before someone hits the big red panic button.

[bo sneb @ Dec 12th 2008 5:41PM]

ha! i need reading comprehension? i refuted one of your points. and then you go off on some insulting tirade about how i didn't understand your point about media bias against palin, but the truth is i just don't care about your main point. you come off as a confrontational condescending wanker, so in the end no one reaaaallly cares what you say. congrats.